You Can Trust Me
by twelvegrimmauldplace
Summary: Lily - what's wrong? What happened in the Easter holidays? You can trust me. JL Seventh Year, finding trust and eventually love. Lots of Sirius and Ari(OC), humour and poems! Please Read and review!
1. Don't Come Running:Introduction

**You Can Trust Me**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, magic or anything to do with the world of Harry Potter that you recognise. **

**Don't Come Running**

Don't come running to me with your problems,

I don't want to know.

Don't come running to me with your problems,

I've got enough of my own.

Don't come running to me with your problems,

I can't sort them out.

Don't come running to me with your problems,

I'll only scream and shout.

Don't come running to me with your problems,

They're only in your head.

Don't come running to me with your problems,

Just cry into your bed.

Don't come running to me with your problems,

I haven't got any time.

Don't come running to me with your problems,

_I honestly wish you weren't mine._

_© __Copyright 2004 RainingTears (FictionPress ID:400799). All rights reserved. Distribution of any kind is prohibited without the written consent of RainingTears.___

After the Sixth year Easter holidays, Lily never told anyone about anything. Her closest friends knew that she'd changed – there was something different about her - but she never broke down under the pressure, never revealed her problems – she never surrendered her heart.

Trust was one of the biggest problems. How could Lily trust anyone else when her own parents had betrayed her? They hadn't been very close since Lily had started Hogwarts, but why didn't they just say something in the first place? Why did they lie for nearly six long years?

Lily passed the Sixth year after the Easter holidays as though she were in a trance. Everything happened as normal – gossiping with her friends, going to Hogsmeade, James' pestering, Sirius scoffing food and constantly joking, boys asking her out – it just didn't seem to matter any more. The world was revolving, but Lily had stopped. She didn't care about the usual things; they lost all of their meaning. She felt as though she had nobody to talk to, nobody to help her, nobody who cared whether she lived or died. Her parents didn't want her anymore and her sister had never loved her anyway.

James' Mum always told him that you could see into a person's soul through their eyes – that's what he loved most about Lily, her eyes, her soul. When Lily came back to school after the Easter Holidays in the Sixth Year he knew that something had changed about her. Her eyes seemed sort of lifeless, like her soul was grieving or had deserted her altogether. She seemed normal, so most people didn't even notice. James did. He loved Lily, he knew that something was up, but he couldn't seem to get through to her. Why would she talk to James Potter, whom she considered to be an egotistical prat?


	2. In the Beginning

**_Disclaimer:  I do not own any characters, places, magic or anything to do with the world of Harry Potter that you recognise. _**

**In The Beginning  (Chapter 1)**

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"James?!"  Sirius waved a hand in front of James' face.  "Earth to James."

James was staring at Lily, who was on the edge of a conversation with some of her friends.  Sirius elbowed James hard.  

"What?"  James glared at Sirius.  

"I _said_, oh idiotic one, do you get a different dorm?"  James shrugged, he hadn't really thought about it – he'd read his head boy letter, but he hadn't really taken in the words.  He pulled the letter from his pocket and scanned the text.  

"Yeah.  I get my own dorm, bathroom and there's a head pupils common room."

Sirius' eyebrows furrowed.  "Are you sure?  That would render our map outdated!" He sounded scandalised.  

"What map would that be then?"  Lily asked from her position behind Peter, who jumped out of his skin in fright and let out a rather high pitched shriek, much to the amusement of those around him.  

"Erm……"

Lily had her eyebrows raised and her foot tapped the floor rather impatiently.  

"Well?"

Remus looked from Sirius' hopelessly blank face to James' I'm-just-about-to-laugh-hysterically grin and decided to take control of the near hopeless situation.  "His Hogwarts map.  It's crap.  He wanted to be a map maker in our third year, but, alas, he has absolutely no skill in that area."

Sirius flashed Remus a dirty look before giving Lily what he hoped was an I'm-completely-innocent smile.  "What he said."

Lily tried not to laugh at Sirius dodgy grin, which he obviously thought made him look innocent, and decided not to waste her time.  

"James – we have a meeting with Dumbledore."

James stood up to leave.  

"Eighths."  Announced Sirius, who had continued devouring food after the map incident.  

"I'll tell you if he manages tenths James." Said Remus.  

"Thanks."  

Dumbledore, the old, long bearded one, briefed the head students of their duties and showed them how to reach their common room and new bedrooms via the Gryffindor common room.  Part of the wall opened up with a password, but would only allow head students through or people that had permission to enter (given by the head students).  

When Dumbledore had departed, Lily and James uttered the password to the section of the wall and walked through a short stone passageway to their common room.  Leading of from the left of the common room was a staircase, which moved up and down like an escalator, depending on which way the user wanted to go.  On the left at the top of the stairs was a wooden door with a thin, engraved gold plaque.  It read:

**James Potter**

**Head Boy**

An identical thin gold plaque on the door to the left read:

**Lily Evans**

**Head Girl**

Each bedroom had a double four-poster bed adorned with gold drapes and red covers.  They each had roaring fireplaces and en suite bathrooms.  The bedrooms contained no desks, as the common room had plenty of space for the head students to work in.

James unpacked his things (well, he just chucked his clothes into the wardrobe and everything else on the floor to make it seem like home) and travelled back downstairs to the head's common room.  A few minutes later he decided to read, and had to venture back upstairs to get a book from his junk pile.  Lily reached the top of the stairs when James was halfway up.  An evil grin arose on her face and she stood on the top step to see which way the stairs would go.  James found himself travelling backwards down the stairs, misinterpreted where the bottom was, and fell flat on his back at the foot of the stairs.  Lily was giggling, though her eyes looked unhappy.

"I guess it's ladies first."

She held out a hand to help James up.  James didn't take it.

"I refuse to accept help from the so called 'lady' who purposely stood on the stairs to watch my downfall."

Lily grinned.  "You're okay?"

"Sure," James replied, "but you're not."

"What?"  Lily looked annoyed.

"You're upset, and you've been upset about something since last year."

"No I'm no and no I haven't."

"Yes you were and yes you have.  I notice it because I can see it in your eyes.  You always seem to be half out of it, like you don't really care anymore."

Lily flinched and frowned.  "Honestly James, I'm fine."

James sighed.  "Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here.  Okay?"

Lily's almond shaped green eyes briefly searched James' hazel eyes as though she were trying to work out it he was being serious.  James heart fluttered as she did so.

"Thanks, I suppose."

Lily turned and exited the head's common room, leaving a worried James standing alone.

Lily's best friend, Ariadne Sapphire, was also worried about Lily.  She had known that something was wrong with Lily when she'd come back to school after the Easter holidays in the Sixth year.  She seemed more distant about things, and just went with the flow so that she didn't need to use too much effort to get through each day.  Since Lily had left for a meeting with Dumbledore, the old, long bearded one, Ari had sat watching Sirius in disgust.  Sirius happened to look up.  

"What?"

"It's a miracle!  Sirius stopped eating to say something!"

"Yeah, well I can't eat anymore."

"I'm not surprised."

Peter joined the conversation.  "Sirius!  You can't stop eating!  You're already on ninths, you only need two more lots!"

Remus snorted.  "One, Peter, one."

Peter started to count on his fingers as Sirius and Remus laughed.  

"You're meant to eat ten courses?"

Remus rolled his eyes.  "Yeah, Sirius and James had a bet of 5 Galleons that Sirius couldn't eat ten helpings of dinner."

Ari laughed.  "You lot are so immature and," she looked at Sirius, "just generally disgusting, particularly in your oaf-like eating habits."

Remus subtly cleared his throat.  

"Oh, you're not too bad Remus, but the fact that you hang around with such riff raff goes against you."

"Well, _excuse_ me _'Arry_ Sapphire, but plenty of women find me irresistible."

"Right.  Name one who isn't considered to be a virtually no-brained bimbo."

Sirius screwed up his face, and his friends sat in silence for a few minutes as he tried to think of someone who considered him to be irresistible, but wasn't a virtually no-brained bimbo.  After a few minutes he gave a cheeky grin.  

"Got one."

Ari looked completely stunned.  

"Who?"

"Ariadne Sapphire."

Ari let out a huge laugh.  "In your dreams Sirius Lee Black.  I don't think my boyfriend would be too happy to hear that."

"Your boyfriend?"

Ari grinned.  "Yeah.  Andy Whiles."

Sirius seemed somewhat annoyed.

Ari persuaded Lily to let her see the head pupil's common room and her new bedroom and en suite bathroom when she got back from dinner.  Ari howled with laughter when Lily told her about the stairs incident, and she and Lily tried going in opposite directions.  The staircase shuddered to a halt.  Ari and Lily sat in the head pupil's common room talking and reading magazines.

"Lily – what happened in the Easter holidays?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Ari.  Drop it – okay?"

"Not okay, Lily.  You've been different since then.  It's like you don't care about stuff anymore, like nothing really matters."

Lily could feel her eyes filling up with tears that were threatening to spill over. 

"Ari, I-"

Lily stopped short as the Marauders entered.  Sirius sat down on the sofa next to Ari and swung an arm round her shoulder.  "So, have you dumped your boyfriend yet?"

Ari gave Sirius the dirtiest look she could muster and pushed his arm off of her shoulder.  "Sirius Black, you just interrupted an important conversation."

Sirius raised his eyebrows.  "Really? Oh, well carry on then.  I don't mind."  He draped his arm around Ari's shoulder once more.

"A _private _conversation."  Ari shifted away from Sirius, leaving his arm to drop onto the sofa beside him. 

Lily stood up.  "Well, I'm going to bed.  Goodnight."

"_Lily_!  You can't just-"

"I told you to drop it Ari."  She took a few steps across the room towards the stairs.

"Lily, it won't just go away if it hasn't since Easter."

Lily carried on walking and didn't look back.

Ari sighed.  "She always does that.  She just avoids whatever it is, like nothing happened."

James had been staring at Lily's eyes the whole time seeing the pain, but not the cause.  "Yeah, she wouldn't talk to me earlier either.  She says she's fine, but her eyes tell a different story."

Ari didn't seem surprised by this; she could tell that James was in love with Lily.  She never said that to Lily though, she'd either dismiss it or be really annoyed so there wasn't really any point.  

"Well, I suppose I'd better be going too."

Sirius faked a downcast look.  "But why?"  Then he grinned.  "To dump _Andy_?  Oh good.  You'd better be going then.  Bye!"

Ari gave a sarcastic "Ha, ha." And exited the head's common room, walking round the back of the sofa and giving Sirius a swift whack around the head on her way.

Tanya* 


	3. Feeling Under

Disclaimer:  I do not own any characters, places, magic or anything to do with the world of Harry Potter that you recognise.

_A completely Lily and James chapter (with a tiny bit of Sirius!)._

**Feeling Under (Chapter 2)**

The first week of school was pretty uneventful for the Seventh Years.  The impact of coursework, homework and revision after the freedom of the summer holidays hit everyone hard and the mood was generally of a depressed feeling.  Nearly everyone left their homework to the last minute, and either had to stay up for half the night or hand their work in incomplete.  The stress got to everyone, but each person reacted in their own way.

"Lily?"  Said James in an I-need-help-I'm-creeping-to-you kind of voice.

Lily looked up from her Potions homework and looked at James suspiciously.

"What do you want?"

"Any chance that you'd let me look at your Defence Against the Dark Arts homework?"

"Nope.  Do it yourself – I had to.  Or you could ask Remus, as he's your friend and top of the class – he's as good as the teacher!"  Lily thought for a second.  "Why do you need help anyway?  I thought you were really good at everything."

James smirked.  "Ha, ha, very funny Lily.  I am good at it, brilliant in fact, it's just that I don't feel like staying up all night."

"What a shame, I feel _really_ sorry for you."  Lily said sarcastically.  "Goodnight."

Lily walked back to her dorm and flopped out on her bed.  She felt something dig into her back and sat up, reaching behind to find the culprit.

Lily blankly stared at the Transfiguration book before realisation set in.  A frown formed on her face as she grabbed some fresh parchment, a quill and some ink and made her way back to the Head's common room.

James was sat with his head in his hands, desperately trying to keep his mind on the Defence Against the Dark Arts homework on the table in front of him.  His eyelids started to droop and his body and mind gave way to sleep.

Lily laughed aloud when she saw James.  He actually looked quite cute, though she couldn't believe she was even thinking that.  She sat down opposite him at the table and slammed down her Transfiguration book.  This had absolutely no effect on James, who seemed to be a deep sleeper.  Lily stared at his face and managed to resist the urge to move one of his hands away from his head.  His hair was even messier than usual – he'd been running his hands through it nervously, trying to get himself to concentrate.

"James?"

Lily waved a hand in front of his face.  Some of James' hair that was sticking out brushed against Lily's hand.  Lily studied James' hair, and suddenly became fascinated by it.  She raised a hand cautiously and gently stroked James' hair.  Lily blushed and was glad that there was nobody around to see, luckily James hadn't woken up.

Lily looked away from James and tried to concentrate on her Transfiguration homework.  She found herself gazing at James every time she looked up.  He was definitely better when he was asleep.  Lily decided that she needed some refreshments, so she made her way down to the kitchens.  She didn't need to avoid any teachers – she was a head pupil now and could easily come up with a believable excuse if need be. 

She walked into the kitchen quietly, so that she didn't startle the house elves and asked for a selection of food – Popcorn (Salted), boiled egg sandwiches, tuna sandwiches, grated cheese, chocolate, crisps (in assorted flavours), cola bottles, cherry cola bottles, a mix of sour sweets and a pot of tea.  

As the house elf excitedly ran to get Lily's choice of foods, Lily turned around and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Sirius Black sitting at one of the tables gnawing on a chicken drumstick.  

"Greetings Lily Flower, care to join me?"  

"Just came down for a little snack, I need to go back upstairs and do my Transfiguration homework."

"A little snack?  You just ordered one _hell_ of a 'snack' Lily, sounded more like a midnight feast to me."

Lily blushed.  "Well, what can I say?  I'm starving hungry, and I can't concentrate on an empty stomach."

"You sound like James.  He always says that when he's dreading his workload, it puts it off for a bit longer."

Lily grinned.  "Well, maybe he's actually right about something!  He's still doing homework too, except it was so mind numbingly _boring_ that he fell asleep."

Sirius let out a short bark of laughter.

A house elf rushed up to Lily holding a huge tray of the selection of food and drink that Lily had requested.

"Thank you."  The house elf rushed away looking delighted to have pleased Lily.  "Anyway, I better get back to that homework.  Bye Sirius!"

"Bye!"

Lily put the tray at one end of the table and poured herself a cup of tea.  James awoke when Lily started crunching popcorn.  He opened his eyes sleepily and stared around.  

"Shit – I fell asleep.  How long was I asleep for?"

Lily grinned.  "Only about half an hour.  I didn't want to wake you up."

James' eyes fell on the food.  "Well, it's probably because I tried to concentrate on an empty stomach, that's never a good idea."

Lily laughed.  "I agree.  Help yourself."

James ate some cherry cola bottles.  "You have extremely good taste Lily, cherry cola bottles are my favourite."

"Mine too.  Tea?"

"Yes please."

Lily poured James a cup of tea, and they continued with their homework.  They drank a lot of tea and ate a lot of cola and cherry cola bottles while they worked.  Eventually, about two hours later, James triumphantly put his quill down and scanned through his Defence Against the Dark Arts homework.  He grinned at Lily.

"How much have you got left?"

Lily, concentrating on her work, didn't answer James, but continued writing.  A few minutes later, she put her quill down and looked up happily to find James staring at her.

"Finished."

"Finito."

"Done and dusted."

"Go me."

"Go you."

"Wahoo."

"Goodnight."

"Sleep tight."

"Don't let the bed bugs bite."

"Bed bugs?"

"Yeah, anyway…goodnight."

"Night."

The next day was Saturday, otherwise known as lie-in day.  Lily got up at two o'clock, showered, got dressed and walked down to the hall for a late lunch.  As she walked through a hallway a sudden wave of sickness washed over her and her surroundings started to sway, then spin.  She started to fall backwards and found herself unable to stop the motion.  She anticipated her impact onto the stone floor and waited for it to come.  It didn't.  Lily heard footsteps rushing towards her from behind and then felt a strong pair of arms encircle her before she hit the ground.  A huge wave of relief rushed over Lily.

"Lily?  Are you okay?"  James softly said into Lily's ear.  

"I don't feel so good."  Lily's voice was a barely a whisper, and her head pounded with each word.

"Come on, I'll take you to the hospital wing."

James carefully positioned one of his arms behind Lily's back to support her and stop her from falling as she walked.  Lily leaned against James as she walked, and found that she was glad he was there.  Maybe he had changed – he certainly seemed to be a lot more considerate towards other people's feelings.

When they reached the hospital wing Lily thanked James and he promised to come and see her.

**A/N:**_ Thanks to Kirsten and Ti, my only two reviewers (sniff, sniff).  I don't know how this chapter ended up as long as it did, but I wanted to make it quite long (the main idea of it was really short) and it ended up quite long (in my opinion!).  Anyway, I'll stop rambling, if anyone is reading this (Is there anyone out there??)  please give me a review!  I will be eternally grateful! Thanks!_

Tanya* 

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_P.S Please hit the review button! :O)_


	4. Boredom? Eavesdropping

Disclaimer:  I do not own any characters, places, magic or anything to do with the world of Harry Potter that you recognise.

**Boredom? Eavesdropping (Chapter 3)**

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Dinnertime on Saturday was strange without Lily there.  Ariadne, who wasn't too keen on sitting with the Marauders (cough **Sirius** cough), sat at the Ravenclaw table with Andy.  Sirius was occupied with staring over at them, whilst trying to make it look as though he wasn't.  James was missing Lily and desperately trying to get rid of Helena Porsche, a Hufflepuff Seventh year who was well known as a slapper/tart.  James was having a hard job controlling his temper.

"Look, Helena – I don't want to know, so just piss off. Okay?"

Helena looked hurt.

"Well, if you're going to be like that then I don't want to sleep with you anyway."

"Oh my god.  What a shame."

Helena pulled a face at James and turned to Peter.

Remus watched his friends in amusement while he talked to Summer Topic, another Gryffindor Seventh Year.  

James thought that Lily would probably be bored out of her mind and decided to visit her that night.  That way he could bring decent food supplies without Madam Pomfrey knowing.  Sirius approached him, as he was about to leave.

"Hey James."

James turned around.  "What?"

"I need some more food supplies – can I come to the kitchens with you?"

"I'm not taking my invisibility cloak, I don't need excuses to be in the halls after hours."

"I'll get it."

James frowned as Sirius rushed to James' room and got his invisibility cloak.

"What's that face for?"

James didn't say anything.

"Look – I'll wait outside when you see Lily if that's what's bothering you.  Come on."

"Why do you need food supplies anyway?  You only got some about half an hour ago."

Sirius screwed his face up.  "That recently?  Doesn't seem like it.  What can I say?  I'm hungry."

James made sure that he got Lily's favourite foods from the kitchens before he and Sirius made their way to the hospital wing.  Sirius stood outside stuffing his face with food, while James went to see Lily.

He watched Lily toss and turn in her sleep and wondered what she was dreaming about.  She awoke with a start and nearly screamed when she saw James.

"Bad dream?"

Lily looked at James sleepily.  "Yeah, they're known as nightmares."

James chuckled.  "I bought you some supplies from the kitchens."

Lily grinned as she checked out the supplies.  "You remembered all my favourites."

"Yeah – I guessed you'd want something other then hospital wing food."

"You guessed right."

"So, when do you escape?"

Lily laughed.  "Monday morning.  At least I don't miss any lessons."

"I'd be glad to miss some lessons.  Dinner was really – I don't know – _weird _without you.  Helena was trying to come on to me."

Lily laughed again, even though it hurt her head.  "Did you tell her where to go?"

"Yeah, and she said she didn't want to sleep with me anyway if I was going to be like that."

Lily laughed even harder.  James ran a hand through his hair and scowled at its messiness.

"Do you think I should gel my hair?"

"Would it work?"

James doubted it.  "Maybe."

"Well," Lily took a deep breath, "I don't think you should."

James raised his eyebrows.  "Seriously?  Are you joking?  I thought you hated my hair and the way I run my hands through it."

Damn, thought Lily, what am I going to say?  I'm fascinated by your hair and loved running one of my hands through it; I can see why you do it now.  No way.

"I'm not joking."

"Well, I best be going before Sirius starts moaning.  I'll visit again tomorrow if you want me to."

Lily smiled.  "I'll await your return."

James grinned and pulled Lily into a hug.  Lily felt her heart flutter and her stomach going round in loops.  She was so near that she couldn't resist – she reached up a hand and ruffled James hair.  "I love your hair the way it is."

James stomach flip-flopped as Lily ruffled his hair.  He grinned and pulled himself away to leave.

_Meanwhile, as Sirius stood outside the hospital wing trying to eavesdrop on James and Lily's conversation……………………………._

Sirius sighed as two pairs of footsteps shuffled along the next corridor, and was just about to take off the invisibility cloak and tell them to shut up when he realised who they were.

"Andy?"  The female voice was definitely not Ari's.

"Yeah?"  Definitely Andy Whiles, of Ravenclaw house.

"When are you going to dump that tramp of yours?"  Sirius tried to think, couldn't place the voice, and shoved more jellybeans in his mouth to help him think.

"She's not a tramp – I'm not sure."

"Soon though?"  Who was it?!

"Yeah, soon."

"Good."  Helena Porsche.

Sirius pulled an utterly disgusted face as the pair walked around the corner and started to eat each other's faces.  He turned and entered the hospital wing.  

James was ready to go when Sirius walked in.  

"Andy is cheating on Ari."

Lily seemed to be in a good mood.

"Yeah right Sirius.  You're just jealous."

Sirius scowled.  "Jealous?  Why would I be jealous?"

James rolled his eyes.  "Think about it dipshit.  You're way too obvious."

"Look who's talking."  

James flushed a deep shade of crimson.

"Anyway, that's not the point right now.  Andy is _cheating_ on Ari_._"

James and Lily didn't reply.

"I'll show you."  Sirius offered.

James looked at Sirius in order to gauge whether he was actually being serious, and decided that he was.

"Okay."

"I'll come too – if it's true Ari won't believe it coming from you Sirius, and maybe not coming from James either."

Lily stepped out of bed.

"Nice PJs Lily."  Lily grinned at James as the tiny shooting stars flew across the black night sky of her pyjamas.

Lily, James and Sirius crept out of the hospital wing.  Sirius pointed to the end of the corridor, where Andy and Helena were engrossed in each other.  They crept back into the hospital wing unnoticed.  Lily crawled back into bed.

"Sorry we didn't believe you Sirius."

"That's okay.  So – what are we going to do about it?"

"We?  I think it would be better if I told her.  She's more likely to believe it coming from me."

Sirius looked thoughtful.  "What do you think she'll do?"

"Dump him most probably, though she'll probably publicly humiliate him or try to get some kind of revenge on him."

Sirius gave an evil grin.  "So she'll be single?"

James gave a fake 'obvious' cough.

"I'll tell her on Monday, when I escape from here, so keep it quiet 'til then okay?"

"Sure thing Lily."

Sirius gave Lily a quick hug before he and James left.

James was true to his word and visited Lily again on Sunday.  They talked for a few hours (James told Madam Pomfrey that he and Lily had a load of head pupil work to do) whilst playing Wizard Chess before Madam Pomfrey chucked James out. Ari came to visit Lily a little while later, and practically had to beg Madam Pomfrey to let her see Lily.

"I hear you've been having fun with James."

Lily chuckled.  "And?"  
"And?!  Lily Evans, do you, or do you not have the hots for James Potter?"

"_Have the hots_?  Where did that come from?"

"Stop avoiding the subject and answer the question."  
"I – he's my friend."

Ari grinned at Lily knowingly.  "Denial, my friend, you're in denial."

Lily chucked a pillow at Ari.  "_Not _funny, and _definitely _not true."

"Whatever."

"Anyway," Lily felt really awkward giving her best friend the bad news about Andy.  "Yesterday night –"

"Visiting hours are over Miss Sapphire, please have a bit of consideration for your friend and leave her to rest before going back to classes tomorrow."

Ari rolled her eyes, said a quick goodbye to Lily and exited the hospital wing.

**A/N:**_ I am seriously grateful for the seven reviews of the second chapter!  _

**_Tessa: _**_Thanks for the review, lol – I won't upset you!_

**_Queen of Random: _**_Thanks!_

**_Child-of-scorpio: _**_ I only started this fic a few days ago, so that's probably why you didn't find it!  Good to know I made someone laugh – I can't help adding stupid bits in even if it's meant to be serious (haha – I just wrote Sirius instead of serious!), like in the first chapter I couldn't resist putting 'Dumbledore, the old, long bearded one.'.  Thank you for reviewing – I promise to review your fanfic._

**_Cheer12:  _**_Thanks for adding me to your favourites and thanks for the review!_

**_Bridget: _**_Lily's secrets will be revealed in a chapter later on (not sure how many later).  More of the hair in this chapter!  There will probably be pranks in later chapters too.  Thanks for the review! _

**_Caitlin: _**_Thanks! _

**_Auntarctic: _**_Thanks…..Lily will reveal her secrets later on!_

**_Everyone: _**_Please review this chapter! I will send email updates to anyone who asks for them.  Anyway, please review.  Thank you to everyone who has added my story to their favourites – it's really weird, most of them don't show up in my stats – old and new.  Thanks to those who have me on Author Alert as well – please review!_

_I love Sirius! (Hehe)_

Tanya* 

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**_P.S Please Review!_**

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	5. Monday Mourning

Disclaimer:  I do not own any characters, places, magic or anything to do with the world of Harry Potter that you recognise.

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**Monday Mourning (Chapter 4)**

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Ari figured that something was up at breakfast on Monday morning.  Sirius was staring at her whilst trying to make it look like it wasn't – Ari knew that he was staring at her and instantly thought that he was up to something.  Lily seemed to be thinking about something else and, as a result, was talking very awkwardly to Ari.  James mainly looked worriedly at Lily, but kept giving Sirius strange looks.

Ari sighed.  "Okay – will you lot tell me what's up?"

Sirius quickly spoke before anyone else.  "Nothing."

Ari stared at Sirius' all together shifty expression and raised one eyebrow.  "Okay, let's rephrase the question into some simple, understandable even to Peter questions.  James – why do you keep giving Sirius strange looks?"

James laughed.  "Because he's a weirdo."

"Hey!"  Sirius tried to hit James, but James moved too quickly.  James leaned back in his chair and coughed the word 'obvious'.  Sirius tried to hit him once more.

"I _know_ he's a weirdo James, you didn't need to tell me.  Sirius – no question – just quit staring at me, it's bloody annoying."

"Seriously – did I look like I was staring at you?"

"No, that's how I realised you were staring at me."

"Very funny, I don't think."

"Whatever – just quit staring at me.  Lily – what are you thinking about and why are you talking really awkwardly?"

"Ari, I need to tell you something."

"Fire."

"I think it would be better in private."

Ari pulled a face.  "In Defence Against the Dark Arts?"  
"Yeah."

It wasn't quite as easy as that.  Professor Rewoats put the Seventh Years into pairs – Lily and James, Summer and Remus, Ari and Sirius, Georgia and Peter, Lissa and Callum etc.

Sirius was being suspiciously nice to Ari, so it was kind of obvious that he knew what was going on.  He wouldn't tell Ari, so she passed an angry note to Lily.

**Ari: Tell me what it is.**

_Lily: What?  You want me to write it?_

**Ari: Whatever.  Just tell me NOW.  Sirius is seriously weird when he's trying to be nice!**

_Lily: Promise not to blame me?_

**Ari: Yeah……….Is it serious then?**

_Lily: Yeah, you better not say I'm lying either._

**Ari: If it's that serious, how come James and Sirius know about it?**

_Lily: Well, they were there._

**Ari: Well, I'll get Sirius to tell me then.**

_Lily: You might not believe it coming from him._

**Ari: Just tell me now Lily, before I ask Sirius.  If they were there then that's three of you, so you can't all be lying.**

_Lily: It's about Andy._

**Ari: Hmmmmm…..**

_Lily: The first night I was in the hospital wing (Saturday), James came to see me at night.  He got me some food supplies from the kitchens first and Sirius was hungry so he went with him.  Sirius waited outside the hospital wing while James came in to see me, and he heard voices in the next corridor – Helena and Andy.  Then they came round the corner and started 'eating each other' as Sirius puts it._

**Ari: WHAT?  How do you know he's not lying?  I thought you said you and James saw it too?**

_Lily: We did – Sirius came in and told us and we didn't believe him so he showed us._

**Ari: So it's true?**

_Lily: 'friad so._

**Ari: Shit.**

James: I offer the services of the Marauders for all revenge plans and operations.

Ari laughed aloud.

**Ari: Thanks James, but I don't need the Marauders to carry out a decent revenge plan.  Just watch and wait – Andrew will get what's coming to him.  Don't tell him he's dumped yet you guys – I'm going to go for the whole public humiliation thing.**

_Lily: Okay_

James: Sure thing.

Ari sat in silence for a while, thinking about Andrew and what a complete and utter liar, cheater and all together idiot he was.  Sirius gave her a concerned look.

"Ari – are you okay?"

"I'm fine Sirius.  Just thinking."

"Ari, he's a worthless idiot – just forget about him."

Ari grinned at Sirius.  "That's the general plan, but revenge comes first."

Ari slipped into the Ravenclaw boy's dormitory that night by means of one of the many secret passageways that she knew about.  She carefully picked through Andy's clothes and charmed most of them to display insults.  She also used an itching powder spell on all of them before leaving through the secret passage.

Andy awoke late on Tuesday morning and had to dress quickly.  He didn't notice anything wrong with his clothes – that was the genius of the charms that Ari had used.  He walked into the Great Hall for breakfast that morning with absolutely no idea why everyone was sniggering and laughing at him. His clothes were graffitied with unflattering words about him; dishonest, bullshit-talker, liar, arsewipe, and many more words to that effect.

Andy sat through his lessons trying to ignore the sniggers that were coming his way.  He still had no idea what was going on and was sort of preoccupied with scratching himself.  He itched all over for no reason – it was so bad he even thought about going to the hospital wing.  He met Helena in an empty classroom at break-time, and the mystery of the sniggering was solved as she immediately told him about his clothes.  They spent their break trying to get rid of the charm, but failed miserably.  The words got bolder and they'd wasted valuable making out time.  As he approached the Great Hall he saw Ari waiting for him to come to lunch.  She looked pretty angry.

"Ari – what's up?"  He saw her eyes on his emblazoned clothes.  "I don't know who did it."

"Really?  I do."

"You do?"  Andy was confused.  What an idiot.

"Yes."  They were walking into the Great Hall now and people were staring and sniggering at him again.  "It was me."

Andy stared at Ari in shock – he still had no clue what she was talking about (and he had the nerve to call himself a Ravenclaw).

"I know about Helena."  Ari slapped Andy's face for the sheer hell of it, and was inwardly satisfied as a bright red slap mark appeared across his face.  "Consider yourself well and truly dumped."

Ari turned to walk away as Andy started to talk – whatever he had to say wasn't worth hearing.

"Well, you probably cheated on me anyway.  I never should've gone out with you in the first place – you're just a cheap whore.  A –"

Andy's rant came to a halt as Sirius' fist collided with his face.

**A/N: **_Thanks to everyone who was generous enough to give me a review! (hehe)_

**Child-of-scorpio: **_You got it right! Ari had to believe Lily because James and Sirius were there too. Thanks!_

**Luthien RhiannonCat5: **_Lol! My Ari is short for Ariadne, so it's different anyway. Does your spell check tell you to write Air instead of Ari? Thanks!_

**Faded-DreamsX2: **_Thanks!_

**Mystical Starlight: **_Lol! Thanks!_

**MuGgLeNeT27: **_Lily is going to reveal all to James (lol, I just read that back and it sounded rather rude! I mean all her secrets about the Easter holidays!).  She's got to trust him, or at least know him/like him a little bit better first.  Thanks!_

**Bridget: **_Thanks! I like the phrase 'I'd best be going' too, even though my dodgy grammar check tells me it's wrong.  People say it in real life, so I put it in.  _

**Lee tea: **_Tea! Cool name!  Lol – what's funny about the tea part?  Maybe if you imagine them with posh accents it's funny or something?! :o) Thanks!_

**Tessa: **_Glad to know I'm helping you get through coursework - I hate coursework of any kind so I understand when you say it's killing you!  I still have a week of school left 'till the Easter holidays. :o(_

**Jen: **_Thanks!_

**Karen: **_Thanks!_

**Shamrock13: **_Thanks!_

**Everyone: **_Karen the reviewer is one of my friends from school, and she always nags me about putting the next chapter up.  I sometimes ask her for ideas, but she never has any good ones (hehe-she'll probably hit me for saying that, but it's true.).  _

_Yeah, I didn't want to go too far with Andy, because the best revenge would be for Ari to be happy with someone else, (which she might be later on).  I just didn't want her to seem too obsessed with him – he's a worthless idiot and is therefore not really worth wasting her time on._

_Please review this chapter as well – more Lily and James in the next chapter (and a bit of Ari – being rather bitchy)! Thanks!_

Tanya* 


	6. Knowing

Disclaimer:  I do not own any characters, places, magic or anything to do with the world of Harry Potter that you recognise.

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**Knowing (Chapter 5)**

The first full moon of the seventh year was roughly two weeks into the autumn term.  James forgot that he'd arranged a meeting with Lily to discuss plans for organising student social events, and Lily was left on her own.  She searched for James in the common room and some of the classrooms, but gave up eventually and sat in the head's common room reading a book.  

James returned to find Lily sound asleep on the sofa.  He whispered her name and shook her gently to try and wake her, but she carried on sleeping.  In the end, James gently lifted Lily up and carried her to her dorm, where he gently laid her down on the bed and pulled the covers over her.  He smiled at her peacefully sleeping face, and resisted the urge to touch her hair.  He bent down and gently kissed Lily's forehead before he left the room.  

Lily still hadn't revealed her secrets to anyone, although she did feel quite close to telling James.  Now that she'd got to know James properly she realised that he was actually a nice person.  Sure, he was still a little bit bigheaded, but you've got to have _some _confidence in yourself.  He was honest, loyal to his friends and he stood up for what he believed in.  The things that Lily admired most about him was that he didn't pretend to be something that he wasn't, he didn't pretend to like people that he hated, and he didn't lie just to make people feel good.

The months building up to the Christmas holidays were a long hard slog for the seventh year students.  Coursework and homework took up most of their evenings, and the weekends seemed non-existent compared with the lengthy schoolwork filled weekdays.  They were stretched to the limit; no teacher ever gave them a break.  Every minute of every day was working; class work, coursework, homework – when it came to revising most students felt as though their heads were going to explode under the pressure.  Lily spent a large portion of her small amount of free time with James.  This generally annoyed Ari, as it meant that she was nearer Sirius.  After the whole Andy incident Ari didn't hate Sirius as much as she had done before, but she still didn't like him.  Andy had taken to harassing Ari in the hallways, constantly telling her he'd made a huge mistake with Helena and asking her to go out with him again.

With Voldemort attacks getting more and more frequent, many students (particularly muggle borns) opted to stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays.  James signed up – he could've gone home, but he felt that it was part of his head boy duties to stay as so many students were staying.  Lily also signed up – she had hated her so called home since the events of the last Easter holidays, and the summer holidays had been pure hell.  Nothing had happened – her parents had tried to talk to her, but Lily didn't want to hear their lies.  She didn't break down and cry about anything, her emotions remained pent up and she couldn't bring herself to even utter one word to her parents.  Lily had endured three long weeks of loneliness and hearing Petunia's constant bitching about her before going to stay at Ari's house for the rest of the holidays. 

Sirius didn't want to spend Christmas alone at his flat, so he also signed up to stay at Hogwarts.  Ari's parents were working abroad over Christmas, so Ari signed up too.  Remus and Peter decided to go home.

Rumours about Ari were flying around the school, and she was trying to get the bottom of them.  When a certain one reached her she thought she knew whom the culprit was, and went to confront said culprit immediately.  She was pretty angry about the rumours, and approached the suspected culprit less than calmly.

"Lily – tell me why you did it."  Her voice seethed with her underlying anger, which she was struggling to control.

"Did what Ari?"  Lily had no idea what Ari was talking about.

"You know what I'm talking about."

"Err…no I don't.  Please explain yourself before accusing me."

Ari sounded each word out ultra slowly, as though Lily were Peter.  "Why.Did.You.Spread.Rumours.About.Me?"

"I didn't."  Lily knew she hadn't spread anything, or told anyone anything that Ari had told her in confidence and was, therefore, completely at a loss as to why Ari was blaming her.

Ari raised her voice and everyone in the Gryffindor common room turned to stare at them.  "YES YOU DID!  YOU WERE THE ONLY PERSON I TOLD AND NOW EVERYONE KNOWS!"

"I SWEAR I DIDN'T TELL ANYONE – WHY WOULD I DO THAT?!"

"IT MUST'VE BEEN YOU, YOU WERE THE ONLY PERSON I TOLD!"

"YOU _REALLY_ THINK I'D TELL EVERYONE?  MAYBE SOMEONE OVERHEARD OR SOMETHING."

"STOP TRYING TO SHIFT THE BLAME LILY!"

"_SHIFT THE BLAME?!_  OBVIOUSLY I'M NOT GOING TO ADMIT TO SOMETHING THAT I HAVEN'T DONE!  DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT LITTLE OF ME?!"

"WHATEVER LILY.  YOU'RE A LIAR _AND _A BITCH."

Lily just stared at her so-called best friend in disbelief.  She had no right to shout at her when she didn't even have any evidence that Lily had committed any wrongdoing.  She attempted to stop the rush of emotions flowing through her and gave Ari the coldest look of hate that she could possibly muster.  When she finally spoke, her voice was deadly calm.

"_If you believe that I'd do something like that and accuse me of things that I haven't done, then I don't want to know you.  Don't talk to me ever again."_  

Lily's voice was dangerously low, and Ari couldn't muster a reply to Lily's statement.  To Ari it was obvious that Lily was lying, and also obvious that she wasn't going to admit to anything.  She couldn't trust Lily anymore.  She stood rooted to the spot and Lily took the chance to stride away from the argument first, keeping what little dignity she had left intact.  

**A/N:  **_Thanks to everyone who gave me a review!  Find out what's up with Lily in the next chapter (there was sort of a hint at part of it in this chapter).  I'm not sure whether to split Lily telling James everything into two bits or not – it's probably going to be long enough for two chapters worth and there's sort of two parts to it, so I might split it (see how many reviews I get for the first half! Lol)._

**KrisKG: **_Chapter 4! Thanks! :D_

**Child-of-scorpio: **_Lol!  Yeah, sometimes I'd like to do that to my enemies too.  Thanks!_

**Missing him: **_Thanks!_

**Caitlin: **_Thanks! I would like to say that Ravenclaw is indeed a great house, but every house must have at least one idiot (Pettigrew is in Gryffindor!).  Yeah, I love Ravenclaw.  I generally get sorted into Ravenclaw, (sometimes Gryffindor) on sorting quizzes and Harry Potter sites! :o)_

**Sailor J-chan/DuoxHilde 4ever:  **_Thanks for the song review!  (How did the tune go? Lol)_

**Sanddeer:  **_I might put Remus into it more later on, but Peter?  Probably not, I know he's there and I'll mention him, but I'm not going to go into great detail about him because he doesn't deserve it.  (I hate Peter! loser!)  Thanks!_

**Karen:  **_Hahaha, you never hit me!  The other bit will be in the next chapter (or next two chapters).  Thanks for the split chapter idea! :o)_

**LJstagflower4e/Jctigerwolf4e: **_Thanks!_

**_Please give me a review if you want to know what happened to Lily._**

**_::loud, evil laugh::_**

**_Yeah!  It's the Easter holidays (two weeks off slave school!), so I might update soon if I have incentive! _**

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**_Press the button and give me a comment!  V_**

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**_Tanya*_**


	7. Trusting James

Disclaimer:  I do not own any characters, places, magic or anything to do with the world of Harry Potter that you recognise.

**Trusting James (Chapter 6)**

_Like a thunderstorm_

_On a sunny day_

_Pushing your happiness away_

_Drowning in the downpour_

_Feeling low_

_No one to trust_

_Nowhere to go._

Lily managed to keep her composure as she strode away from Ari, and through to the head's common room.  After that, she couldn't carry on.  All her pent up emotions surfaced and she broke down.  The tears pooled in her eyes, making everything go blurry before rolling down her cheeks in mini rivers, and falling onto her top.  Everything that had been waiting to come out, everything that she needed to cry about came into her mind.  She sank to the floor and let the huge sobs consume her body.  She didn't hear James say her name, and barely felt him sit down next to her.  Her grief consumed her and she was blind to the outside world and anyone there, until she felt James' arms pull her into a loving hug.  

Lily felt James speak softly into her ear.  "What happened?"

Lily knew that he didn't mean the argument with Ari – he'd probably heard the shouting anyway – he meant in the Easter holidays.  

**FLASHBACK!**

_She sprinted from the scene as fast as her legs could carry her, deaf to the wailing sirens, deaf to the wind rushing through the trees.  Her heart drummed in her chest as her feet pounded along the dirty, chewing gum strewn pavement._

_She didn't see where she was running to, and she didn't glance behind.  All she knew was that she needed to put as much distance between the scene and herself as was humanly possible.  She couldn't apparate in the middle of a largely populated muggle city, so she ran._

His unknowing face stayed etched into her mind and all she could hear was the voices of bystanders, the few survivors of the horrific attack describing the attackers to the Ministry of Magic officials, describing the instant deaths that befell their neighbours and friends.  Tears ran down their faces as they desperately tried to make sense of the supposedly unexplainable situation and realisation that their loved ones were gone.

_Lily was too stubborn to let the tears fall down her face, too shocked to take everything in.  She didn't want to believe that he was gone for good, but she knew it in her heart.  When he died something inside her died too, it felt like a chunk of her heart had been stolen._

*   *       *                *                            *                           *                           *                      *      * *****

She raised her tear filled eyes to look into James' hazel eyes, and saw them full of concern.  She knew that James was genuine and decided to put her trust in him.

"Jack was just – just walking to work when they – they-"

Lily cut off as her immense sobs somehow grew bigger and shook her body.  She mustered the strength to carry on.

"It was a Death Eater attack.  I live in a big city and they just a – attacked."

"Oh Lily…" James hugged Lily closer to him and her sobs wracked his body too.  His jumper was soaked with tears.  He gently rubbed Lily's back and she began to talk again.

"He's my older brother, he was always there for me.  He didn't call me a freak or anything like Petunia does.  We were really close."

James held Lily while she sobbed, and hoped that he was helping her to cope with her pain.

After a while, Lily stood up, the tears still sliding down her face, and staggered across to the window.  She stared out at the star constellations twinkling in the night sky and choked on her sobs.  James figured that Lily wanted some space; he sat down on one of the sofas.

"He always told me that when someone d – dies, they b – become a – a star."

It was Lily who went to James this time.  She slowly crossed the room and lightly sat down next to him on the sofa.  James' arms encircled her again and she cried for what seemed like an eternity.  Lily forgot about the world around her and finally managed to let out her emotions and grief.  She didn't hear the voices coming from the common room and neither did James.  James gently held Lily while she cried and tenderly rubbed her back.  He knew that she needed to get everything out.  They forgot about prior engagements and head pupil duties.

**Meanwhile, outside the Head pupil's common room  (in the Great Hall)…………………………………………………………………**

"Hey, where's James?"

Ari looked at Sirius guiltily.

Sirius gave Ari a searching look.  "What did you do, S.A?"

Ari wasn't in the mood for Sirius' teasing.  She knew that she'd upset Lily, and that she hadn't known for definite if Lily had even told anyone.  She chose to ignore Sirius' comment.  What the hell did S.A mean anyway?

"I had a go at Lily.  She went to the Head's common room.  James was already in there and he hasn't come out, so he's probably comforting Lily."

Sirius pulled a strange face and quickly tried to hide himself behind Ari as Helena approached them.  Andy stood next to Helena looking angry.

Helena seemed guilty and rather embarrassed about something.

"Ari – I heard about your argument with Lily in your common room."

Ari scowled.  "Yeah and?  It's hardly any of your business.  Piss off."

Ari turned to walk away and ended up with her face only a few millimetres away from Sirius', as he had hidden behind her.

"Ari?"  Helena's voice was really quiet, for once it seemed that she wasn't going to say anything bitchy.

Ari stood still and let out a low growl – Sirius was still standing in the way.  She span around.  "What?"

Helena's voice fell to a whisper.  "It was me.  I heard you telling Lily.  I told everyone, it was me."

"YOU BITCH!"

Ari launched herself at Helena, with a mind to rip her face off, or her vocal chords out, or something like that.  Sirius pulled her back just before she reached Helena.  

"I" Sirius' words came out singularly, as he struggled to hold Ari back.  Ari tried to bite him.  "think – you – should – go."

Helena let out a frightened squeak and backed away from Ari.

"Let go of me, Black!"  Sirius managed to drag Ari away from the Great Hall, and the crowd watching them.

"No way, Miss Sapphire.  Quit struggling."

Ari carried on struggling for about 10 minutes before she finally gave up and stood still.

Sirius grinned.  "Right – promise you won't go after Helena?"

Ari got annoyed again.  Partly because there was no way she would promise any such thing, and partly because Sirius still wouldn't let go of her.

"_What_?  Are you _mad_, Sirius Black?  She spread my private business and you expect me to let her get away with it?!"

Sirius sighed.  "Promise you won't run?"

"What?"

"Promise you won't run."

"Promise."

Sirius let go of Ari and she turned round to face him.

"Right – first things first, we'll get revenge later on.  That way we can plan something so you don't get caught."

Ari remained silent.

"And before that, you need to apologise to Lily."

"Why would you care if I got caught?"

"I heard the 'rumour', you know.  I thought it wasn't true, but then you had a go at Lily………."

Ari froze.   

**A/N: **_Hahaha! Give me a review and I'll post the other chapter sooner – find out what the rumour is and what else happened to Lily!  Hahaha  "It was I!" Lol, my grammar check keeps telling me to write that!  It sounds like Shakespeare or something!_

_Lily could see the stars already because it's winter – in winter it gets dark quickly (between 4 and 5 o'clock usually), so this is why there are still students in the Great Hall (dinnertime etc.). _

_See – it _is _long, and I still have another half to write! (Well, I've written some of it already.)_

_Thank you for all the reviews of Chapter 5 – Knowing!_

**Child-of-scorpio: **_In the next chapter the rumour (true), is revealed! BTW: I don't know about that story you're searching for! Thanks!_

**Sanddeer: **_Thanks!_

**Karen: **_What Ari said to Lily is in the next chapter – you will not hit me!  As for my meanness, yeah I know I'm mean, but I've posted now!_

**Tanya*: **_Haha, I reviewed my own fanfic! _

**J.E.A.R.K.Potter: **_Thanks!_

**LiLy MaLfOy13: **_Thanks!_

**Loni: **_Lol thanks! I have one other fanfic JELP: A Year To Remember, which is complete.  Maybe I'll email you – I don't usually write very long emails though!  Do you have MSN messenger?_

**KrisKG: **_Hahaha, I'm being incredibly mean (ask Karen, apparently I'm mean all the time!)  Lol thanks! I just realised you reviewed my other fanfic!  Takes me a while to catch on sometimes!  I might write a fic about the proposal and stuff when I've finished this one._

**Luthien RhiannonCat5: **_Lol, I read your story, but I didn't have time to review! I will review sometime soon._

**Jay: **_Lol, thanks!_****

Tanya* 

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Please review! 


	8. Not My Parents

Disclaimer:  I do not own any characters, places, magic or anything to do with the world of Harry Potter that you recognise.

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**Not My Parents (Chapter 7)**

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_Why have they turned against me?_

_Why do I get the blame?_

_Why do they treat me like I'm different,_

_Even though I'm the same?_

_Why didn't they tell me?_

_Why did they hide it all along?_

_Why don't they find out the facts before accusing me -_

_It's obvious they're wrong._

Lily cried into James, who comforted her the best her could, and tried to get her to talk about things so that she got everything out.  After he while he realised that Lily wasn't telling him everything and, after reflecting how distant Lily had seemed in the past months, he ventured to ask her if anything else was wrong.

"Is there –" James hesitated slightly as Lily tilted her head slightly so that her tear filled green eyes gently looked up at his own.  "Is there anything else?"

The tears pooled in Lily's eyes spilled over once more and fell onto James' jumper.  She wanted to talk, to tell James, and managed to find the strength from somewhere after a few minutes.

**************************************************************************************************

**FLASHBACK!**

The rain had fallen and Lily had been soaked to the skin.  As Lily stepped through the front door of her house, her parents confronted her.  Their voices still echoed in her brain.

_"Did you know?"  Her mother's tear-stained face told her that her parents already knew.  She could see their pain in their facial expressions and their evident distress.  Her father was not crying, he seemed numb to all emotion.  He tried to block things that grieved him, and often became angry and inconsiderate towards other people's feelings instead.  In the stress of the intense emotion that he felt, he often acted rashly, and blamed people for things without any proof or compassion._

_"Why Jack, Lily, why Jack?"  Lily could think of no reply to her father's questions, and remained silent._

_"Why did you have to get involved with all the magic stuff?"_

_Lily tried to defend herself – she didn't support Voldemort and she certainly wasn't a Death Eater.  She was blameless._

_"I'm not – they just kill muggles, it wasn't because he was related to me.  They're not –"_

_Her father took no notice of her attempted explanation, and his temper took such a form that he wouldn't have stopped his accusations even if he had listened.  "I wish you'd never got involved – he'd probably still be here."_

_Lily couldn't believe what she was hearing.  Her mother just cried – she didn't blame Lily; she knew that her husband would regret his actions later on.  Lily stood frozen to the spot, not wanting to stay in her so called home any longer.  Her parents had always said that they were proud of her being a witch.  She knew her father well enough to know that he probably didn't mean his words, but it didn't lessen their effect.  They stung on impact and imprinted in her mind.  How could her own father hate her so much?_

_The words that rendered the situation unrecoverable were, of course, spat out by the one and only Petunia._

_"Face it Lily.  It's like I told you all along.  You're a freak."_

_***********************************************************************************************************_

"My parents blamed me – well, at least my dad did.  He said it was my fault because I was a witch.  It's like they've been lying to me for nearly six years."

James stared at the top of Lily's head.  "Are you sure it wasn't because he was upset?"

"No, I think it probably _was_ because he was upset.  He's usually like that when he's upset – he blames someone and regrets it later on."

"Have you talked to him since?"

"No – he tried, but I didn't want to hear it.  Maybe it didn't mean what he said, but it still hurt.  I needed him and he let me down.  It made me feel really low, like I had no one.  Jack was gone, Petunia hates me anyway, my Dad seemed not to care and my Mum – I don't know, she was upset herself.  I don't like crying, especially in front of other people."

James looked down at Lily's tear stained face and couldn't help but chuckle at the last statement.  Lily got caught up in his chuckle and smiled lightly.  

"You've got loads of friends who care about you Lily, me included."

"Yeah, I know, I just feel lonely sometimes because I don't like telling people stuff."

"Maybe you should listen to what your dad has to say now you've got some of it out."

"Maybe."

They sat in companionable silence while Lily thought about her dad and whether she could face him now that she'd talked to someone else and accepted Jack's death.  She'd never forget Jack, but she knew that her dad probably regretted his words and that they'd be weighing on his mind.  

James' kindness towards her made Lily further realise the nature of his character.  He hadn't taken a look at Lily in tears and backed away, or fetched one of her friends.  He had cared about her and had done everything in his power to comfort Lily.  This event, grievous though it had been, had finally made Lily see James in an entirely different light.  James had given her a shoulder - or rather a chest - to cry on.

**Meanwhile, just outside the Great Hall……………………………………………………………………………………………………….**

Ari was wholly embarrassed that Sirius had found out.  She blushed a bright shade of scarlet and after being temporarily frozen to the spot, her legs took over and she ran in the opposite direction as fast as possible.

Sirius calmly looked around for any spectators before touching a certain brick in the wall and disappearing through the opening that appeared.  He stepped out on one of the corridors on the way up to the Gryffindor common room and awaited Ari.  Sure enough, a few minutes later, Ari came running down the corridor.  Sirius stood in the middle so that she couldn't pass.   Ari wasn't looking where she was running and consequently ran full pelt into Sirius.  The force of Ari's running knocked them to the floor, putting Ari in a very embarrassing position.  

Ari hastened to get up, mumbled a 'sorry' and tried to walk towards to Gryffindor tower.  

"Not so fast."  Sirius somehow managed to stand up in the speed of lightning and get in the way.

"Sirius – I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"You promised not to run."

"So?"

"So, I need to tell you something important."

"Important?"

"Um, look Ari – I don't know why you're so embarrassed about it.  What your dad did isn't your fault."

Ari narrowed her eyes at him.  "He was someone's secret keeper and he was too cowardly to keep it for them.  A _whole family_ died because of him.  I'm ashamed of him, I thought I knew him."

"Nobody will blame you – sure, the Slytherins might like you more than before-" Ari smiled slightly, but couldn't muster a laugh.

"But, seriously, nobody will blame you."  

Ari felt a little bit better – she still didn't really like the idea of everybody knowing, as it was none of their business anyway, but Sirius' view of things made the situation less awkward.  It would probably be out in the papers soon enough anyway.  

"Was the other rumour true?"  Sirius sounded hopeful; although it was likely to be something that Helena had made up to annoy Andy (and Ari).

Ari raised her eyebrows.  "You have to be joking.  I don't fancy you in the slightest."  Maybe she was lying a little bit there.  On seeing Sirius' crestfallen look, she added "Sorry."  

She remembered something.

"What the hell does S.A mean?"

Sirius grinned at his own ingeniousness and went back to his usual, less serious self.  "Do you really want to know?"

"Yup."

"You sure?"

"_Yup._"

"Two sures?"

"Tell me _now_, Sirius Lee Black, before I seriously damage a certain part of your body and render you void of all normal manly functions."

Sirius cringed.  "Short."

"And the A?"

"Arse."  

As Sirius said the last word, he trusted his natural instincts and set off running in the opposite direction.  Ari followed in close pursuit and they eventually reached the common room.  Ari caught up as Sirius had to wait for the portrait to swing open before he could enter.  Ari pushed him to the floor, but he grabbed hold of her as she did so and they both fell to the floor.  Their fellow Gryffindors watched in amusement as they rolled across the common room floor.  They cheered as Ari finally managed to pin Sirius down and made him apologise sufficiently before she let him go.  

Ari didn't get a chance to apologise to Lily until the next day, which happened to be the last day before the Christmas holidays.  Lily's eyes were puffy and red from crying, making Ari instantly feel guiltier.

"Lily, I'm really sorry about yesterday."

Lily didn't say anything.

"I only told you, so I thought that it must've been you, but you were right – someone overheard.  Helena admitted that it was her."

Sirius decided to give his input (Lily was sitting with the Marauders), even though Ari glared at him for joining the conversation.

"Probably because Andy found out and got her to apologise, and she probably did it because she was jealous about Andy wanting to go out with Ari again."

"Anyway, I'm _really _sorry I didn't believe you Lily.  I don't want to be fighting over Christmas."

Lily laughed, a genuine laugh, which lit up her whole face.  "It's alright.  I actually got some stuff out because of it.  As to the fighting over Christmas – well, James told me that Sirius is staying, so you may be fighting quite frequently over Christmas."

Ari hugged Lily and grinned at James.  

**A/N: **_Before anything else, I have to mention that S.A is a term used by my me and my dad for my sister, who is shorter than us (even though she's 2 years older than me!).  She was mean to me today when I felt ill, so I thought I'd mention that!:o)  Haha – 'James stared at the top of Lily's head' – that cracked me up for some reason._

_A huge thank you to all the people below for the reviews!  :0) :o) :O)_

**_Child-of-scorpio          laurea-yean          sirius' lover_**_          **Lizmarauder4eva          Jess131346          KrisKG          Danz**(x7!)                                                                            **J.E.A.R.K.Potter(Erin)         Jessie xxx         Auntarctic**         **RhiaCat         marauderbabe289         oppositesdistract          Sirius-lives-4-ever**          **FreiMe**(x2!)          **lolipoplozer          hpgirl500          Raphaela 667           I*Am*An*Angel          LillyEvans13           **_

**_^ _**_I decided not to put the names individually because I sometimes get annoyed if I think there's more to read, and find a load of author notes at the bottom.  Thank you to everyone who reviewed!  I can't believe I even got that many reviews! _

_For those who have me on author alert (24), please review! :o) :0) :O)_

_HAPPY EASTER!  (Give me a review as an Easter present!) _

Tanya* :0)

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**_Play Up Pompey! _**


	9. Get Lost? Cheekiness Reigns

Disclaimer:  I do not own any characters, places, magic or anything to do with the world of Harry Potter that you recognise.

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**Get Lost? Cheekiness reigns (Chapter 8)**

"For God's sake Sirius, can't you take the hint?!"

"That you want to go out with me?  Why yes, of course I can."

"You're a loser with a capital L!  Get lost!"

"See things my way, you can still tease someone you love."  
"I'd try to see things from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my own arse."

*                            *                                             *                              *                              *                         *

"Go on, just one date.  You know you want to."

"As an outsider, how do you view the human race?"

"Well, erm…hey!"

*                             *                                              *                                *                            *                            *

"If you are what you eat, you're a pile of chicken drumsticks."

"Hence the incorrectness of that phrase.  I am anything but a pile of chicken drumsticks."

*                             *                                             *                                  *                              *                             *

"You know you love me really."

"You know you've got no chance really."

"I won't give up."

*                            *                                          *                                  *                             *                               *

"_Please _will you go on a date with me?"

Ari prepared to say no for what felt like the millionth time after she'd finished the conversation she was having with Lily, which Sirius had rather rudely butted in on.

"I need chocolate."  Lily moaned.  "Preferably a whole mountain of it."

"I need chips from the chip shop with curry sauce."

Lily considered.  "I suppose it depends on which chip shop you go to."

"The one near me.  It sells Chinese food, but their chips and curry sauce are divine."  They could apparate to the chip shop on the hogsmeade days, but the last one had been before the Christmas holidays – it was too late now.

Sirius, who was obviously listening in on the conversation, saw a chance – a glimmer of hope.

"Tell me the name of the chip shop and I'll get them for you."

Ari turned to him.  "Whatever Sirius."

"No, seriously.  Give me the name of the shop and if I get them for you, you owe me a date."

Ari stared at him, as Lily turned to James and talked in a low voice.

"Can he get them?"

James grinned.  "Yep."

Lily turned to Ari, but it was too late – she'd agreed to Sirius' terms.

A few hours later, at dinnertime, Sirius entered the common room with a pile of chips and cups of curry sauce for his friends.  

James and Lily didn't seem too surprised.

"Guys!  Why didn't you tell me?!  I can't believe you did that!"  Ari gave her so-called friends a murderous glare, causing them to laugh.

"They could be the wrong ones."  Ari stated, hopefully.  Then she saw the logo on the bag, and the hopelessness of the situation set in.  "Oh no."

"Don't worry darling."  Sirius sat down next to Ari and casually draped his arm around her shoulders.  "And even if you think it's that bad, well, at least you've got chips with curry sauce."

"Hooray."  Ari's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"You should be glad to have a date with the one and only Sirius Lee Black.  You never know – you might even enjoy it."

Ari pulled a yeah-right-you-must-be-joking face and started to eat.

Sirius wasn't sure where to go to with Ari.  He wanted to take her to somewhere special, but he didn't know what she'd make of it.  In the end he decided to go somewhere else first, then take her somewhere better if she actually liked him.  He was pretty sure that she did at least a little bit, but he found it hard to read her feelings.  She wasn't one to wear her emotions on her sleeve.

They ended up just going for a walk along the seafront.  Sirius liked the sea and the fact that there was once a ship named HMS Sirius.  It was early evening time and the stars were already visible in the sky.  They strolled along the pebbles talking and eating chips, listening to the calm splashes and rushes of the tide as the waves crashed in and sucked out.  They were both wrapped up warmly against the winter weather.

"Thanks for the other day."

"The chips?"

Ari laughed.  "No.  What you said about nobody blaming me."

"It's true."

"I know.  Maybe I just needed somebody to say it to me."

There was a short silence before Sirius ventured to ask Ari something.

"Was what you said after that true?"

Ari blushed as she looked into his eyes, trying to decipher what he felt for her.  "No." she admitted.

"So you fancy me a little bit?"  Sirius looked so hopeful.  Ari knew that he really wanted to be with her – not just for a quick one nighter.  He actually wanted to get to know her properly.

"No." Ari repeated.

Sirius didn't get it, she could sense his confusion.  She blushed an even deeper red.

"I fancy you a lot."

Sirius' whole face lit up as he plastered a huge grin across it.  Sirius felt Ari's hand reach for his and their hands interlocked.  They strolled along the seafront at ease with each other and decided on another date.

**Back at Hogwarts with Lily and James………………**

Lily sat next to James on the sofa and wondered aloud where Sirius had taken Ari.

"Where did they go?"

"The beach."

"The beach?"

"Yeah, because Sirius likes the beach."

Lily stared into James' eyes and found herself becoming lost in their depths.

"What places do you like?"

James thought, remembering places and grinning at certain memories.  "Loads of places."

"That was a crap answer James.  What's your favourite place?"

James thought again.  "I can't describe it.  Maybe I could show you some time."

Lily was bored.  "When?"

"Now if you like."  James stood up and quickly ran up the stairs to retrieve his broomstick.  He held out a hand to Lily to help her on.  "It'll take about an hour to get there.  It's best by moonlight."

Lily sat on the back of the broomstick and wrapped her arms tightly around James' waist as they flew out of the window in the Head Pupil's common room.  They didn't talk as they flew – they were going too fast.  James liked to fly at high speed or not at all.  They finally touched down in the middle of the countryside somewhere.  Lily was confused.  

"This is it?"

"No."  James took Lily's hand and led her through a small field before they came to a large rock.  Lily was just about to say something when James led her through a crack in the wall and up a small staircase of stone steps.

"This is it."

James was right; words couldn't describe the sight.  They were standing on a ledge at the back of a small waterfall.  The sheet of water blurred the pool of water in front of it and the surrounding wilderness.  James was looking up, so Lily did the same thing.  The stars and the moon blurred slightly with the dark night sky, a gentle moonlight lit the walls on the cave–ledge they were standing on making a glittering effect.

"It's beautiful James."

"I know."  James had wanted to take Lily there for a long time; tonight he'd felt close enough to her to do so.  Lily realised how much James cared about her.  She decided to give him an unforgettable Christmas present.

They stood in silence, in awe of their surroundings for a long time before they decided to make a move.  

By the time they got to the Gryffindor common room, it was quite late and was clear of most pupils.  Sirius and Ari were sitting next to each other on the sofa and they watched as Lily and James flew in the window.

"Where have you two been?"  Ari inquired.

Lily grinned.  "Not the beach. To James' favourite place."

Sirius cocked an eyebrow.  "You're the first to see it.  He always says it's a secret."

Lily smiled at James, who could feel the tinge of colour rise to his cheeks.  "It _is_ a secret." Lily stated.

"Yeah," said James, "mine and Lily's secret."

Lily noticed something.  "Hang on a minute – how come you two aren't arguing?"

Sirius' huge grin was still plastered across his face from earlier.  

"We talked and we decided to give things a go. We're going on another date."

Lily rolled her eyes.  "Like we couldn't see that one coming."

**A/N:  **_Christmas comes but once a year, make merriment and enjoy it!  Yeah, that's Tanya talk for the next chapter is Christmas Eve/Christmas day.  Major L/J stuff.  Anyone read my profile? – I am true to my word about the curry sauce and chips thing!_

_The waterfall thing was just there because I thought the chapter was too short, but I really like it now!  It's meant to show that Lily and James know that they're getting close and can sense each other's feelings.  With huge thanks to:_

**Karen          jess131346          Irish QT          theoneandonly          ZombieGurl89          kiko-love-kurama          Padfootlet          Raphaela 667          MuGgLeNeT27          RhiaCat          Sirius-lives-4-ever          kAwAii hAwAii          Jessie xxx           KrisKG          Danz**

_I have some poems and the beginning of a story (not sure about carrying on) on fictionpress.  Please R & R them!  I have also written a short one shot from Sirius' point of view (Siriusly Mad by Sirius Black) on fanfiction.  Please R & R!_

_I love Sirius, I love reviews and I love Pompey who just beat Manchester United 1-0! Play Up Pompey!_

_Please review this chapter! :o)  _

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**_Tanya*_**

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	10. All I Want For Christmas

_Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, magic or anything to do with the world of Harry Potter that you recognise. I also do not own the line - All I want for Christmas is you.

* * *

_

**All I want for Christmas (Chapter 9) **

Lily walked out of her en suite bathroom wearing a towel, singing absentmindedly as she did so.

"…all I want for Christmas is you."

"Really?" James gave Lily a cheeky grin – he'd been standing in the doorway of her bedroom the whole time.

Lily jumped out of her skin and clutched at the towel that was wrapped around her. "JAMES! How long have you been standing there?"

James continued to grin. "A while."

Lily frowned at his grinning. "It's not funny."

James tried to hide his grin, but there was still a mischievous glint to his eyes. "No, I completely agree Lily. We need to go to Hogsmeade."

"Don't you grin at me like that, you cheeky git. Obviously I need to get dressed _before _we go to Hogsmeade." She waited for him to turn and leave before she realised. "Hang on a minute – how are we going to get to Hogsmeade?"

James' grin extended, giving him a maniac look. "I have my ways." He tried to sound mysterious – Lily looked at him as though he were a freak.

"Right," she said slowly, humouring the mad man. "And _why _are we going to Hogsmeade?"

"To drink and be merry!"

"I am not dragging you back here James, you better not drink too much."

"You think so little of me Lily dearest."

Lily pushed him out of her doorway and closed the door.

Lily came downstairs a few minutes later to find James waiting for her on the sofa, he was still grinning rather insanely.

"James, I'm only going to go to Hogsmeade with you if you promise not to grin like that."

James tried to adjust his face into a more normal looking smile.

"That better?"

"Much."

James grabbed Lily's hand and led her to a mirror on the Fourth floor. He tapped a certain part of the mirror frame and said "Opennius." The mirror swung open and they walked through, making sure to close the mirror behind themselves.

Lily grinned insanely and James failed to notice that she was taking the piss out of him. "How did you find out about that?"

"I am James Potter, knower of all importantly useless facts." He draped his arm around Lily's shoulder. "Need to know any useless facts?"

Lily giggled. "Yeah. What do you want for Christmas?"

James looked offended. "That's not a useless fact! – But seen as you've already told me what you want –"

"I did?" Lily was confused.

"Yeah, me. I would like you in return, it's only fair."

Lily laughed and punched James' chest lightly.

James pretended to be hurt. "Or you could sing a duet with me. I need someone as good as me, you see, and you're about my standard."

Lily blushed and snorted. "Like you can sing."

"Yep."

"Go on then."

"Okay." James cleared his throat and sang a verse of a traditional carol from the wizarding world that Lily had heard some carol singers singing outside the Three Broomsticks a few years ago.

Lily had to take it back. "Okay, so you _can_ sing. Really well actually."

"Why thank you."

They reached the end of the passage and climbed up through a trapdoor to end up at the back of The Three Broomsticks. James climbed at first and held out a hand to help Lily out.

"Here we are."

They walked round to the front and entered to pub, grinning as they saw Ari and Sirius in one corner. They ordered their drinks (James wanted to pay for it all, but Lily insisted on paying her share) and found a small table that wasn't too near to anyone they knew.

"So," Lily pondered. "Is this a date?"

James grinned insanely again. "If you want it to be."

Lily whacked his shoulder lightly. "I _do _want it to be, so yes it _is _a date."

James looked serious for a moment. "Do you actually fancy me then?"

Lily turned a dark shade of scarlet before answering. "Yes."

James nodded. "Good, I was beginning to wonder whether you'd ever like me."

"It was crying into your chest that did it for me really."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it made me realise how good your body was." Lily looked at the effect this statement had on James. His eyes were open about as wide as they would go, and she wondered whether he actually believed her. "I'm joking. I like who you are – I like your personality."

James' face lit up. "I've always been a great person."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

Lily took a deep breath. "Will you –"

Lily tried to ignore the fact that James was staring at her intently awaiting her question.

"Would you like to be my boyfriend?"

James felt the joy spread through him, and Lily felt the butterflies doing overtime in her stomach as she waited for James' answer.

"I can't believe you just asked me that Lily." James tried to keep his voice serious.

Lily's anxious face fell slightly. "Sorry?"

James continued. "Because I've been waiting for you to say that you'd like to be my girlfriend for a long time."

He watched as a multitude of emotions went through Lily's face before she smiled happily at him and leant across the table. James felt a tingle go down his body as Lily's lips met his and they shared their first kiss.

Lily awoke the next day and couldn't resist the urge to wake James up. She knocked on his bedroom door just in case before entering his room after receiving no reply to her knock.

She smiled at the peacefully sleeping James.

"James?"

James showed no sign of having heard her, so she ruffled his hair.

"JAMES!"

James attempted to drag one eye open and failed miserably.

"James, it's Christmas day! Don't be so lazy!"

James tried to drag his eyes open again. One of them opened slightly, like the slit of a post box.

"Come on. Get up!" Lily dragged at James' covers, but he held onto them tightly and let his eye close again.

Lily bent down next to James' bed and whispered his name in his ear. He wrenched one eye open again and felt as though he was going to die from the sheer effort of it.

"_Please _get up James."

James' eyelid swaggered under the effort of keeping it open and closed again.

Lily sighed, held her wand over James' head and muttered a spell. James spluttered as a small waterfall fell onto him and shot upright, finally feeling awake.

"Lily! That was completely unnecessary, I wasn't even asleep!"

Lily grunted disbelievingly. "Yeah right. Whatever you say James. Hurry up and get dressed, I'll wait for you in the common room."

Lily and James walked into the Gryffindor common room about half an hour later and found Sirius and Ari waiting for them.

James stared at Sirius as though he were an illusion and turned to Ari and said,

"How did you wake him up!" at the same time as Sirius asked Lily the same question.

Lily stared at the Sirius and James in disbelief. "It's Christmas Day! Since when does anyone not get up early on Christmas Day?"

Sirius grinned cheekily at her. "Christmas Day you say? I've never heard of that – I always thought it was Christmas afternoon. Didn't you James?"

"Yup."

Ari slapped Sirius upside the head with her hand and turned to her pile of presents. The others followed suit.

James picked up a small present, which had a hastily written tag on it.

_Dear James,_

_Merry Christmas! 'May all your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white!'_

_Love from Lily._

_P.S Please don't kill me! (It's your fault – you said you wanted it!)_

James opened the small parcel to find a small white box. He rested it in the palm of his hand and stared at it wonderingly for a few minutes before it exploded, covering him in a pile of pure white snow.

Lily laughed as he wiped the snow off of his glasses and turned to glare at her. Unluckily for her, she was standing slightly too close to him. He reached out his arms and pulled her into a snowy hug. They shared a snowy kiss. Lily pulled the instructions out of her back pocket and handed them to James. Apparently pressing the tiny, almost unnoticeable button on the bottom of the box activated a pile of snow to fall just behind the box. The snow was self-clearing and disappeared after about half an hour.

Lily found a small box from James and read the tag before opening it.

_Dear Lily,_

_Happy Christmas! I'm hope you like this – I'm sure it matches your eyes!_

_All my love,_

_James X_

_P.S Nothing could ever be as beautiful as your eyes though!_

Lily curiously opened the box to find a silver heart necklace embedded with real emeralds.

"James – you shouldn't have. It's too much."

James shook his head and took the necklace from the box. He stood behind her and gently slid the necklace around her neck and did up the clasp.

He turned Lily round and she stared into his eyes. "You know what else you get?"

"No."

"Me."

"You?"

"Yes. I love you."

"I love you too, James."

Lily stretched slightly and reached up to kiss James.

They pulled apart a few seconds later laughing at a shocked Sirius, who had picked up one of James' presents and now stood in a pile of snow.

* * *

**A/N: **_That was quite a long chapter! Aren't they sweet? Talking about sweet, my new cousin was born on Monday, and he is the sweetest baby I have ever seen! Yeah, I've been a bit busy with History coursework (finally finished!) as well. Just to say: YAY! I finally finished my table! I spent so long on it, but it's really good! _

_Okay, so it wasn't really an unforgettable Christmas present because I changed the chapter. Well, maybe, I mean he's not really going to forget her telling him that she loves him!_

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed: _

_**Danz Jess131346 Courtney child-of-scorpio zeldagrl346 kAwAii hAwAii Padfootlet Sirius-lives-4-ever Moony-Padfoot-Prongs-4ever msamanda firewalker32 Raphaela 667 kiko-love-kurama KrisKG J.E.A.R.K.Potter rema Jessie xxx**_

_Please Review this (rather mushy) chapter! – I know that 34 people have me on Author alert! Please Review! _

_Also, please read my fictionpress stuff (it's not that great, but….yeah). I might post a new story there soon called Divided Unknown. _

_Thanks again,_

Tanya

P.S – in reply to child-of-scorpio's review of Siriusly Mad by Sirius Black – Thanks! LOL – no, alas, I am not a real author. :cries: I'm still at school at the moment – I want to be a real author though!

Also thanks to Danz, Karen and Vicc The Blackwolf for the reviews!


	11. Talking To The Olds

**_Disclaimer: I do not own any places, magic, characters or anything you recognise from the world of Harry Potter._**

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**Talking to the olds (Chapter 10)**

****

Lily sat ruffling James' hair until he got annoyed with it. They were trying to get the last of their homework done, but they didn't seem to be getting anywhere. James sighed and let his books slam shut. Lily grinned at him.

"_Finally_."  
"What shall we do then?"

"Take a walk."

It hadn't snowed that winter, but it was still freezing cold outside. James noticed that Lily already had her cloak on and was wrapping a Gryffindor scarf around her neck to keep out the bitter cold. He dragged on his own cloak and they set off into the darkness of the evening. They walked around the lake, which was close to freezing over, and eventually sat down on a frosty bench near the edge.

"Lily?" James asked tentatively. He wasn't sure whether to bring up the subject of her parents or not; he hoped that she didn't get upset again.

"Yeah?"

"Have you thought about talking to your parents yet?"

Lily frowned. "Course I have. I'm just not sure when I'll be ready to do it, or if _they're_ ready. It's awkward."

"Maybe you should do it sooner rather than later – you don't really want to have to worry about anything else when you're doing your NEWTs."

"I don't know James."  
They were silent for a while.

"I'll come with you if you like."

Lily's eyes fixed on his. "I would like."

She rested her head on his shoulder and he felt her shivering.

"Here." He moved forward carefully and took off his cloak. "Put this on."

Lily gave him a you're-an-idiot look. "Don't be stupid James, you'll freeze."

"I was freezing anyway. Just take it."

Lily shook her head at him, but wrapped his cloak around her anyway. She moved as close to him as she possibly could in order to share her body heat with him.

"Tomorrow. We'll do it tomorrow."

"Do _it_? Are you sure you it isn't a bit soon for that?"

Lily pulled away slightly and gave him a light punch. "You dirty git! You _know _I didn't mean it like that."

"Ah, well. I knew it was too good to be true."

Lily grinned. "What are you on about anyway? How can it be too soon if we love each other?"

"You're right. Tomorrow it is then."

Lily gave him a light whack. "Do you really want to do it at Hogwarts?"

James pondered for a few minutes. "No. Anyone could walk in on us."

Lily pulled a face. "What's that smell?"

James screwed up his face. "Yuck." He turned around and looked behind the bench to find a huge black dog grinning at him.

Lily had turned around too. "It that a Grim?" She inquired with a puzzled look on her face.

"No." The dog looked strangely like it was grinning at them. "Get lost."

The dog just sat there.

"I'll say your name." James threatened. Lily was completely bewildered. The dog still didn't move, but it's expression changed to a yeah-right-you're-a-liar face.

James gave it once last chance. "I mean it." The dog didn't move. "She'll be mad." The dog still didn't move. "I'll help her curse you into oblivion." The dog wouldn't move.

"James, it's only a dog – leave it alone."

"Padfoot." The dog's eyebrows (or where it's eyebrows would've been) seemed to rise.

"Padfoot?" Lily asked. "Isn't that Sirius' nickname?"

"Yup. Now's the time to run Padfoot."

"He's an animagus?"

Padfoot started to run.

* * *

Lily and James entered the Gryffindor common room and calmly walked over to Remus.

"Have you seen Sirius?"

Remus grinned. "Not since he came running in mumbling about shit about quarter of an hour ago."

"Lily knows about Padfoot."

Remus' eyes danced with amusement. "Well, she already knew about me anyway. What did he do?"

"Listened in on our conversation. I gave him fair warning to get lost before I said his name."

"Good luck."

"Thanks mate."

Sirius pulled Lily and James to one side just before they entered the Great Hall for breakfast the next day.

"How long will this last?" His voice was an urgent whisper.

Lily grinned mischievously. "Well, we're not sure how long your face will be puke coloured for – it could be ages before it goes back to normal."

James laughed at the desperate look on Sirius' face. "Your hair will reappear when you face changes back."

"You know I hate you guys, right?"

Nearly the whole school had seen Sirius' face that morning. Lily and James hadn't made the spell to last for very long – he was their friend. The spell would wear off any second now, but they weren't about to tell him that.

"We'll bear that in mind in the future."

Sirius tried to hide his head throughout breakfast because he didn't realise that it had changed back to its normal state. Lily and James couldn't help but laugh and people who had seen him earlier that morning (pretty much everyone) were sniggering into their food. Ari tried to tell him that it had changed back, but Sirius refused to trust her until she produced a mirror. 

* * *

"Are you sure about this?"

Lily scowled at James and answered his question for about the tenth time that day.

"There's still time to back out."

Lily glared at James and determinedly rang the doorbell.

Petunia answered the door with a huge grin on her face – she was expecting Vernon. Lily swatted James lightly as he tried to keep in his laughter at Petunia's less than conservative appearance, but didn't quite manage it.

"Why are you here, _freak_?"

Lily kept her face emotionless. "I don't know. I must've got the wrong house - I was unaware that a prostitute lived here." James desperately tried not to laugh.

"You're just jealous of my looks." Petunia took on an even more elaborate pose in the doorway.

"Yeah, I've always wanted to look like a horse."

James tried to disguise his laughter as a cough.

Lily's father appeared in the doorway before Petunia could think of a half decent comeback. A car horn blared and Petunia trotted off down the path, feeling a million pounds – looking less than a penny.

James and Lily sat on a sofa, while her parents sat on one opposite to them.

"Lily, I'm really sorry about what blaming you before. I know that it wasn't your fault; I'm sorry I didn't listen to what you were trying to tell me."

James tried to gauge how Lily was feeling. Her parents had invited them into the house – they were so anxious to talk to Lily that they didn't even ask who James was.

"I was just so upset about Jack. I was angry and stupid Lily; please forgive me. I can't lose two of you."

Lily seemed to be thinking things over. James gently squeezed her hand, which was interlocked with his, to let her know that she wasn't alone. She looked at her father's sorrowful eyes and felt his confusion and regret towards his own actions. Though he had been hurtful towards her, he had been hurting himself and she could see how ashamed he was of his actions. Lily reached a decision.

"Okay." Her father's face broke into a grin as he reached across and pulled Lily into a hug. They broke apart so that Lily's mother could hug her.

"So," Lily's mum said, with a smile on her face, "Who is this fine young man?"

James' face looked as though someone had poured boiling water over it. He'd kept saying to Lily about backing out because he was nervous about meeting her parents; what if they didn't like him?

"Mum, Dad – this is James-"

Before Lily could finish her sentence, her father cut in. "Potter?" He seemed to find something amusing.

"Dad, don't-"

"The one who hassled you each year? How come you said yes?"

Lily grinned. "I didn't. I was the one asking the question. James – this is my Mum."

"Daisy." They shook hands and Lily proceeded to introduce her Dad.

"And this is my Dad."

"Brian."

Brian Evans insisted on giving James the Spanish inquisition, telling him how to treat his daughter and what would happen to him if he ever hurt Lily in any way. Lily sat cringing as her father's endless list of questions, advise and threats dragged on. Brian seemed to be happy with James' answers and seemed to like his character.

They bid farewell to Lily's parents before dinnertime, so that nobody would be suspicious as to their whereabouts and absence from the Hogwarts grounds.

**A/N: **_Thanks to everyone who reviewed! _

**_Jessie xxx child-of-scorpio kiko-love-kurama Padfootlet KrisKG Andie Potter YamiClara ! Irish!QT! _**_(neither am I!)** Karen RhiaCat AtwistedAngel13 Lizzabeth Turner **_

_I am siriusly grateful! This chapter took me ages to write (sorry it took nearly a month to get it up!), but I don't really like it that much. At the moment I am doing my GCSEs (arggggg), so the next update might take a while as well. Don't worry though – I'm not abandoning it! What did you think of this chapter? Was it rubbish or not that bad? Please give me a review! It might break the ultimate boredom of revision (or lack of it), and give me the sanity that I've always wished for! Also, does anyone think I should write more of the Siriusly Mad thing, about other stuff that's happened to him? Please R&R my fictionpress stories and poems! Thanks!_

**Tanya**

_Thanks to Danz who just managed to review this chapter in ultra quicktime before I even got the chance to sort out the changes!_


	12. 007

_Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, magic or anything that you recognise from the world of Harry Potter_.  
  
**007 (Chapter 11)**  
  
Helena was back. Back after two glorious weeks of freedom; away from school, away from the constant stream of schoolwork and, most importantly, away from Ari. Was Helena expecting some sort of revenge? Was she heck. After what had happened to Andy, Helena had the sense to be on her guard and tread cautiously wherever she went. As though that was going to be enough.

Aside from the fact that Ari was very good at pulling pranks on people herself, Sirius had promised to help her. There was no way Helena was going to avoid it – Ari _would_ get revenge. It was a fact of life. Helena being on her guard would only succeed in making the plan more ingenious and she could only be on her guard for _so_ long anyway. Sirius and Ari could strike at any time.

They decided to strike about a week after the Christmas holidays. They had seen Helena walking around shiftily, looking everywhere and anywhere, searching every nook and cranny for traps or tricks. They could see how nervous she was and how meticulously she searched, but they also saw how much time it took her. Their plan had to include something that could surprise her and draw her attention away from the other things, something that struck quickly - before she even noticed that anything was up, or something that she couldn't see.

Sirius, as usual, had plenty of ideas. Ari knew how agitated Helena was getting and loved seeing the terrified look on her face when she saw Sirius and Ari talking about something in hushed whispers. Sirius couldn't wait to pull a prank and as this one needed to be something at least slightly remarkable, he couldn't put his energies into any other pranks until this one was over.

Julian strutted along the hallway in his usual fashion, receiving the usual sniggers. He jumped slightly as Andy managed to appear in front of him, seemingly stepping out of nowhere. He regained his composure and spoke in a business like manner.

"So, my man, what can I be doing for you this very fine day?"

"You still like Helena?"

Julian frowned. "Sure do. Why wouldn't I? She's fit, she's –"

"Yeah, yeah whatever. – "

"No need to be rude, man."

Andy cocked an eyebrow at Julian's patheticness and resisted to urge to join in with the people who constantly sniggered at Julian's fakeness. No- one ever knew what Julian was really like, but most people suspected that he was a complete and utter prat. They were pretty much right.

"Well, I'm in a bit of a tight spot. I really want to ask Sarah Kylo out, but obviously it's sort of awkward with Helena following me around."

"And...."

"And I was wondering whether you'd ask her to go out with you again."

Julian cringed. "After what she did last time?"

Andy scowled slightly. "Look, mate - she's had a bit of time to cool off since then. I'm sure-"

Julian massaged his forehead with one hand as though he had a lot on his mind and cut across Andy. "What's it worth?"

"I'll give you five galleons if she says no and if she says yes then you've got a date." Julian grinned at Andy.

"You must want her off your back pretty bad to waste five galleons on her."

"So?" Andy asked apprehensively.

"It's a deal." The pair shook hands and went their separate ways. Julian carried on walking, singing quietly to himself as he did so and Andy disappeared into the shadows.

"Friends?" He asked Ari.

"Friends."  
  
Sirius hid behind a gargoyle. He was crouched down and nobody seemed to notice him. Ari had said he didn't need to bother with hiding – he just had to stand dead still at the edge of the hallway and everyone would mistake him for a gargoyle anyway. With one eye he kept a lookout on the people walking in the direction of the gargoyles face, with the other eye and the use of a small mirror he kept a lookout on the people walking in the opposite direction. The timing had to be precise.

He saw Julian in the mirror, strutting his usual strut and receiving his usual sniggers. He tried not to join in with the sniggering or laugh aloud at Julian's appearance. It was the weekend and Julian's choice of clothes left a lot to be desired. He was wearing ripped brown trousers with plimsolls and an accidentally dyed, what-used-to-be-white t-shirt. Sirius saw Helena approaching from the opposite direction and prepared to perform the incantation at the right moment.

"Helena?"

"Yeah?" Helena spoke carelessly and it was obvious that she couldn't be arsed to give Julian the time of day. She looked around her, not meeting his eyes, and seemed to be thinking about something else – probably the imminent prank.

"I know what you said last time, but it's been a while and I thought, maybe, you'd like to rethink your answer."

Helena didn't reply.

"Will you go on a date with me?" Helena looked him up and down and didn't try to repress the look of utter disgust that adorned her face. She took pity on Julian and decided not to be mean. If she just said 'no' it would probably break his little heart anyway. That was enough – he'd be in for worse if he ever dared to ask again.

In the shadows Sirius took out his wand and muttered the all-important incantation.

Julian crossed his fingers as Helena opened her mouth to give him the negative answer.

"Yes." Helena clapped a hand to her mouth in shock, but it was too late. Julian had heard her answer loud and clear.

"Great." He said and gave her a quick hug. "I'll meet you in the common room at seven then." And before Helena could even protest, Julian rushed away in the opposite direction, for once forgetting his dodgy strut.

It was revenge enough. Helena had to spend a whole date in Julian's company – the incantation uttered by Sirius meant that Helena also had to keep her promise. Julian wanted to go out with Helena and she had to be nice to him for once; pissing him off at the beginning of a date when you had to stay for the whole event wasn't really a good idea.

The date was hell for Helena. Firstly, it was boring. A restaurant was a restaurant – it was the company that made the difference. Julian seemed to think that everyone was interested in the perfect way to strut and having decidedly different struts for different place, or supporting your local football team. He talked endlessly about the latter, but all of it was rather meaningless to Helena, who was a pureblood and had never heard of football.

Secondly, the 'restaurant' was more like a dead end café than a restaurant. Julian, though he had wanted a date with Helena for a long time, wasn't one to spend hoards of money on food. Sirius had once had an argument with him over the importance of eating good food and lots of it, but Julian obviously hadn't listened. Maybe that was why he had such a weedy build.

Thirdly, Julian noticed when Helena wasn't listening fully, meaning that she couldn't let her attention waver. Apart from being mean, not sharing Helena's interests and being weedy, Helena just didn't fancy him. She never had. She had never given him the time of day, but now that she'd accepted that date he'd expect her to. She tried to end it in disaster by 'accidentally' knocking a glass of red wine over him, but he didn't seem to mind.  
  
The outcome of the night of terror was the worst thing; Helena finally got a taste of her own medicine. Speculation and rumours about the date were the main source of gossip throughout the school. Rumours about where they'd been, what they'd done (had they slept with each other?) and whether they were now an item. Most people seemed to think that they were and Julian, being Julian, wasn't about to admit that they weren't. Most people wondered why _anyone_ would want to go out with Julian, but then again Helena was never too picky in her choice of partners.  
  
Ari heard the rumours and saw Helena's cringing and annoyance at the whole situation. This would've been enough to satisfy her, but even funnier was the fact that Julian now talked to Helena quite often (he was sure that she fancied him) and followed her around.  
  
A job well done. Revenge, sweet revenge.  
  
A_/N: Finally! I've finally updated! The next one shouldn't take as long, as I've now finished all of my GCSE exams – WAHOO! I know this one is not very romantic, but the revenge just ended up being long. The next chapter will be better. I have two new ideas for fanfictions, which I am dying to write, but I'll finish this one and my Sirius one first. Anyway, thank you to the following people:_ Jessie xxx Padfootlet  
YamiClara trashcan Sugar Snap dains- numberone-fan Ti Queen Of Day Dreams Irish Anor   
Twilight66 Erenriel the Elven Canuck Auntarctic(x2!) KrisKG Danz (update your fanfiction!!)

_For the fabulous reviews! Everyone please review this chapter (especially those 39 of you who get Author Alerts!).  
  
Tanya _


	13. Petering Away Dumbledore's Dropslide!

_Disclaimer: Anything you recognise from the huge world of Harry Potter is, unfortunately, not mine.  
_  
**Petering Away (Dumbledore's Dropslide)  
**  
_Sure they're my friends, but they're all paired off. I've had girlfriends, but their current relationships just seem more serious, deeper - and I'm jealous. They've been nice to me and we've had fun, but someone else has offered me something better - power. I want to be up on them, I want to be the best for once. Why shouldn't I get my time in the spotlight?_

* * *

Lily concentrated on the half - finished essay in front of her and dreamed of the time when the NEWTs were finally over. She didn't have long to wait, but she knew that the days wouldn't pass quickly. There was too much work, too many classes, too much homework, and nowhere near enough free time.  
  
James had next to no free time as he had to get the Quidditch team shipshape for their last match of the season. Winning the Quidditch Cup rested on it, and he wanted to keep the cup in his last year as captain.  
  
"Hey Lils, fancy a dip in the lake? The water looks just sparkling today."  
  
Sirius earned himself a your-an-insane-git look from Lily.  
  
"You _are_ joking, right?"  
  
Sirius' face remained nothing but serious.  
  
"No," he tried to look offended. "Why would you think that?"  
  
Lily laughed and replied. "Because the lake is freezing cold." She spoke the words slowly, to get the all too obvious point across.  
  
Sirius chose to ignore the speed and grinned. "That's what you'd think."  
  
Lily raised an eyebrow. "And..."  
  
"And I devised a charm to make it warm."  
  
Lily laughed hysterically, while Sirius stood, completely unfazed, waiting for her to compose herself.  
  
"_If_ it worked, and that's a very _big_ if, we'd be frozen when we got out."  
  
Sirius smirked. "Are you a witch, Lily? Obviously a simple drying charm will do the trick."  
  
Lily sighed (plan foiled). "Can't you go find someone else? I seriously doubt that you'll be able to find anyone as insane as you (except Tanya), but you could put on the charm and easily persuade one of your many admirers."  
  
"I'd like some intelligent company. Ari refuses, James is practising Quidditch, I think..."  
  
Yes, thought Lily. "It may have escaped your notice, oh wise one, but I do believe that you are a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and should, therefore, be present at the team practise, which started precisely five minutes ago."  
  
"Bugger."  
  
Lily breathed a sigh of relief as Sirius disappeared down the corridor.

* * *

_Quidditch is another thing they're great at. There's no way I'll ever be able to compete with them at Quidditch. I'm crap at flying - heights aren't really my thing, but imagine how great it must feel to be one of the ones out there winning the games and Quidditch Cup for your house. You're the one on the commentary, you're the one everyone recognises in the corridors, you're the one they all want to be like, and you're the one who everyone admirers just for doing a sport that you love anyway.

* * *

_  
  
"It'll be the Easter holidays soon enough, and then it should soon be hot enough to go swimming without some dodgy charm that you've invented."  
  
Why Sirius wanted to go swimming in the lake was a complete mystery to Remus. He was slightly worried that it had something to do with Sirius' plans to prank the Squid in their third year, and if so, did not want to be in the lake when the Squid retaliated.  
  
As it stood at the present, the rain was beating down, the Gryffindor Quidditch team had re-entered the common room soaked from head to toe and Dumbledore had decided to construct a giant dropslide in the Great Hall.  
  
Many students were too scared to try out the slide and the Slytherin population refused to participate in anything so Muggle.  
  
Peter was too scared to try it, so Remus, Sirius, James, Ari and Lily left him in the common room.  
  
A great time was had by all who had ventured to the Great Hall. Most people were initially scared when they reached the top ledge, but excited and exhilarated once they'd let themselves go. The adrenaline rush felt great and the sliders scrambled back up to the top for a repeat of the carefree feeling.  
  
As it was the weekend, most students wore Muggle clothes, which were a lot easier to slide in than robes. Dumbledore enjoyed sliding, even if he did have to hold his beard away from the slide to prevent friction burns.  
  
The slide also managed, thankfully, to direct Sirius' thoughts away from the lake.

* * *

_Everyone else was having fun, muggle fun, on the giant dropslide constructed by Dumbledore, the old crackpot, what will he think of next? Anyway, I wandered the corridors on my own and eventually sat down in a deserted classroom to have some time to think, alone. Except that I could hear voices.  
I was too far away from the Great Hall, so I crept towards the door of the empty classroom and tiptoed towards to voices.  
I stood for a while, just listening, well, earwigging, on the conversation. From what I could hear, it was obviously supposed to be top secret. Some dimwit must've been left to perform the sealing and silencing charms.  
Intrigued at what I was hearing, but uneager to become involved, I turned to leave. But, unfortunately, I was slightly too late. One of the rooms occupants stepped outside the door and invited me in. _

* * *

Ari, Remus, Lily, James and Sirius came back from the Great Hall feeling happy, ecstatic, energetic and eager to remain active for the remainder of the day, not that there was much left of it. 

So that's how a roaring Gryffindor club night began. The younger students went to bed and the older students made the most of one of their last free weekends before the NEWTs.

* * *

__

_I joined, I joined. They accepted me, not only that, but I felt that they actually needed me. That's why I joined. That and the fact that, underneath, I was scared, scared shitless.  
Of course I felt guilty. James, Sirius and Remus were the first people to accept me and now I was going against them. They waltzed into the common room so happy, and started partying the night away.  
I wasn't included though, not really. Don't get me wrong; I was at the party. I just get the __feeling that they wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been there. _

* * *

_A/N: A huge thank you to everyone who reviewed - Danz, Auntarctic, dancinquyn (x2), wizardduel2, Jessie xxx, HalfBloodPrincess1492, Nat, Red, RowanCrystal, Ti, child-of-scorpio (x2), holly-evans, kiko loves kurama, Queen of Day Dreams, James and Lily 4eva, YamiClara, lost without a name and siriusforeva._

_Thanks! Seriously - it's just great to know that people are reading it! I am hugely sorry that this chapter took so long - the computer repairers firstly ignored our computer for a whole week, then took ages fixing it. Then word wouldn't work so I had to wait. Also, this site tells me it has less words than it actually has. Strange._

_Anyway, please review!_

Tanya


	14. Siriusly Squiddish!

_Disclaimer: Anything you recognise from the huge world of Harry Potter is, unfortunately, not mine._

A huge thank you to the idea that came to me for James' Duel and also to my dense self, who took way too long to realise that I could use it for this.

A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed - I had the names written out, but I managed to delete them, twice, so one HUGE thank you will have to do.

Only a few more chapters after this one.......but James' Duel will still be running for a while!

Enjoy!

**Siriusly Squiddish (Chapter 13)**

**James**

I awoke from a strange dream about being a pirate, rolled over sleepily and felt myself drift off to sleep again. Less than a minute later, I felt somebody shaking me frantically. I pulled himself away from the shaker and tried to get back to sleep again.

"James!" Someone said, in an urgent whisper.

I replied with: "Piss off Sirius."

This did no good. "James? Have you forgotten the bet?"

I thought, I couldn't remember any bets and tried to yank to curtains shut to block out Sirius.

"Hey!" Sirius wasn't going to be got rid of that easily. He let out an obviously heavy sigh and took it upon himself to explain to me. "Does skinny dipping ring a bell?"

Uh-oh I thought. That was when I realised that I was still wearing all of my clothes and that I felt quite less than sober. That was when I remembered the bet of roughly ten minutes ago, when the girls' had bet me twenty Galleons that I wouldn't go skinny dipping in the lake, in the middle of winter, with the giant squid.

I am no fool. I thought that I might as well have the extra twenty Galleons that the girls' had offered, so I had agreed and shook on the bet.

I catapulted myself out of bed, strode down to the common room, through the corridors (taking a few secret passageways of course) and out to the lake. The girls where already there waiting and thinking, from the looks on their faces, that there was no way that I'd actually do it. Boy, was I going to prove them wrong.

I took off my coat, jumper, shoes and socks first, then my t-shirt and jeans, at which I received a series of impressed wolf whistles from the girls. Not being shy, I couldn't resist turning round and waving at them. I saw Lily slowly turning a bright crimson.

I took off my boxers to a chorus of loud wolf whistling and dived into the lake.

That was the bet done, so I swam the short length back to edge of the lake, got out, used a drying spell on myself and tugged my clothes back on.

**

* * *

**

**Sirius**

After waking James up (honestly, when he's drunk he falls asleep – he's like an old man) and reminding him of his bet, we went down to the lake. He stripped off (I averted my eyes, not being that way inclined) and dived into the lake.

That was when I remembered my desire to swim in the lake, how nobody would swim in the lake with me and, finally, how Remus had told me that it would probably be hot enough in the Easter holidays. _Now _was the Easter holidays.

* * *

**James**

Obviously, after pulling my clothes on, I hadn't counted on something hurtling into me at about 120mph. I fell back into the lake with a huge splosh and the 120mph object flew over me and landed about 10 metres away, further toward the middle of the lake. Cursing, I dragged myself back out, redid the drying spell on myself and turned to see what or who the 120mph thing was.

**

* * *

**

**Sirius**

Alas, the effects of the large quantities of alcohol – muggle stuff and magical stuff – had not quite (well, not at all to be honest) worn off. Without waiting for anyone else, I sprinted towards the lake, fully clothed, and jumped in. I tell you; at the time it felt like I must've beat the world long jump record. Later on, James told me that he reckoned I'd only jumped roughly 10 metres, but he would say that – he's probably just jealous.

Being drunk, I assumed that everyone else would want to join me for a very early morning dip in the lake. However, James – the idiot that got in the way of my spectacular long jump – clambered back out and dried himself off again. The girls' sorted out the twenty Galleons that they owed James, but then stayed at the lakeside. Remus was laughing heartily. At that moment I failed to see what was so hilarious. Angry at the laughter of Remus and Ari – who remained at the lakeside with the others turning a bright red in embarrassment at the behaviour of me, her drunken boyfriend, I trod water for a few minutes trying to clear my drunken head and come to my senses. I sincerely hoped that I had some senses to come to.

But I didn't. Especially when I happened to see the tentacle of a certain giant squid.

**

* * *

**

**Ari**

I was _completely _embarrassed. I mean, as much as I love him, Sirius can be a complete and utter prat when he gets drunk. It takes a lot to get him _that _drunk, thank god, but when it _does _happened he does really senseless things. Like this one time when...

On second thoughts maybe I won't go into that right now. Back to the main story here. Sirius was in the lake fully clothed, Remus was pissing himself laughing, James cracked up with laughter too, once Lily had handed him his glasses, and the other Gryffindors (except Peter – I'm not sure why he wasn't there) were looking amused, albeit slightly worried.

Though Sirius was rather drunk, he was treading water, he can swim and we assumed that he'd be okay. We wouldn't have been able to get him out of there anyway – he'd been banging on about swimming in the lake for ages.

When the squid put in an appearance, both James' and Remus' faces instantly changed. The laughter suddenly stopped and a sudden silence hung in the air around us as we watched what Sirius was doing.

**

* * *

**

**Remus**

We stopped laughing because Sirius and the Squid just do not mix. It's a long story, but here are the basics. We did shed loads of pranks back then (in our third year), when we didn't have as much homework and no NEWTs or OWLs to study for and Sirius got bored. I hate to admit it, but Sirius is clever – just not in the textbook kind of way.

As well as planning pranks as part of the Marauders he managed to concoct a huge pranking plan of his own. As you can guess, he planned to prank the giant squid – big time. It was around Easter time and we'd pranked nearly everyone in school by then – every teacher, every pupil, every suit of armour, every pet, every school owl – you name it, we'd pranked it.

So, thus came Sirius' hair-brained scheme to prank to poor giant squid. A stupid idea, which, as I told him, might turn the giant squid against humans altogether and make the lake unsafe for any pupil to swim in ever again. Peter said he'd help (being the sheep that he generally is), but James flatly refused. He wasn't one to shy away from danger, but he saw that pranking the squid was not a good idea.

Sirius' plan remained only a plan. It wasn't carried out and pupil's swimming in the lake did so in harmony.

**

* * *

**

**Lily**

After seeing James naked, it took a while for me to come back to my senses and realise that Sirius was in the lake, staring maliciously at the giant squid. He seemed to be firing spells at the poor thing.

A moment later, he was crushed in the squid's tentacles. The look on his face was a complete classic; I'll never forget that face. The squid wasn't hurting him – it was, can you believe, hugging him!

* * *

And that was exactly how Sirius ended up in the hospital wing. After having pretty much every bone in his body crushed by the giant squid (who hugged too tight), he had to spend a few days in the hospital wing. Everyone who came to see him couldn't help laughing and he was constantly teased about the incident for a few months after. 


	15. Easter Holidays Part 1

_Disclaimer: Anything you recognise from the huge world of Harry Potter is, unfortunately, not mine._

_I know it's been _ages _since I updated this fanfic, but I just got a bit of a block...I have ideas at the moment- I just posted a Sirius one-shot and I'm going to write the next chapter of James' Duel ASAP. I am getting back into writing.  
I am sorry it took so long - college and work don't leave me that much spare time, but I've totally neglected this. I promise to update sooner next time. _Honestly.

_A huge thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, even when it had been ages since an update and it seemed doubtful that there would be one._

_So, this goes out to anyone who's ever reviewed this fanfic, or favourited it, or author alerted it._

_

* * *

_

**The Easter Holidays – Part 1 (Chapter 14)**

A few days after James' skinny dipping and Sirius' Giant Squid incident, the Easter holidays began. Having stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas, James and Lily decided to go home for Easter – James' parents and his older brothers wanted to meet Lily and Lily's parents wanted to get to know James better. They were also talking about plans for Petunia's wedding.

In the end, Lily and James decided to go to Lily's house first for a few days and then go to James' house. After that they'd still have about a week left to go away together; they wanted some privacy and they wanted to travel. A week didn't really give them that much time to explore the world, but they decided on a few places that they both wanted to visit and also booked two muggle flights to Berlin becauseJames was curious about the muggle way of flying.

James and Lily left Hogwarts, complete with a stack of Easter homework each, and apparated to Lily's house with their trunks. James was sleeping on the sofa – Lily had offered to give up her room for him, but he had flatly refused.

* * *

Lily's house was a regular three bedroom terraced house, so it was a little cramped having James there as well and tensions were high – Petunia took every opportunity to make a snide remark about James or just about the wizarding world in general, and she frequently invited Vernon to the house to join in. James and Lily both tried their best to ignore the pathetic digs at them and James often just laughed and agreed with Petunia, which only infuriated her even more. The remarks got worse and worse, with Petunia getting more and more annoyed at the non-existent or positive responses that she received each time. 

The wedding plans were a load of crap. Petunia was going to look awful in her puffy dress, which was very unflattering of her thin figure and the church was going to be flooded with flowers. There wasn't even the question of Lily being a bridesmaid as Petunia had flatly refused when her parents mentioned it. Petunia was annoyed at Lily and James being there, stealing some of the attention away from her and Vernon. This was _her _big moment and Lily and James were just a couple of freaks – what was so great about them?

Thank god they were only spending a few days at Lily's house. James got on well with Lily's parents and, apart from Petunia everything was fine. That was another thing that annoyed the hell out of Petunia; her parents seemed to get on better with James than they did with Vernon. Even though Mr and Mrs Evans loved both of their daughters equally, Petunia was jealous of the attention that Lily got.

* * *

Eventually, after a particularly vicious round of spiteful remarks, Petunia's temper erupted. She lost her sister in one sentence. 

"It's your fault Jack's dead - if you weren't a witch he'd still be alive."

Lily had just regarded Petunia coldly before turning to go upstairs and pack her stuff. She loved her parents, but she couldn't live with Petunia anymore. James gave her strength and helped her to ignore Petunia, but this was just too much.

"Bullshit." Lily turned to see James standing next to her. He seemed calm, but Lily sensed the strong anger underneath. He was going to give Petunia a piece of his mind.

"What?" Petunia spat.

"You heard. Jack was murdered by terrorists – nothing to do with Lily. _Terrorists _– just the same as terrorists who don't know a thing about magic."

"How come they picked on Jack then?"

"They didn't. Terrorists don't pick on individuals; they just kill as many as they can."

"Well, I'm sure-"

"No. You're not sure. How could you possibly be sure? Don't you _dare _blame Lily. There's no rational logic behind it and Jack wasn't targeted. They attacked in the middle of a densely populated city and he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lily is a better person than you'll _ever _be."

Disgusted with Petunia, James walked away and Lily followed, leaving a shocked Petunia standing in the middle of the living room unable to speak.

* * *

Having hastily packed up their belongings and said goodbye to Lily's parents, James and Lily arrived at James' house an hour or so after the argument with Petunia. They had been planning on going to James' house that day anyway – it was just a bit earlier in the day than they had anticipated. 

The only wizarding world house that Lily had ever been to before was Ari's and James' seemed so different, even from the outside. It seemed to have some muggle elements about it – there was a drive way on which a lovingly polished vintage car sat. There was a swimming pool outside, but it was more technologically advanced than any muggle swimming pool Lily had ever seen. The house looked old and was huge, yet it still seemed to be full up with James' family.

Lily had never been so nervous. James had two older brothers – Jeremy and Edward ('call me Ed!') and an older sister, Lani. Lani worked at the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, Jeremy was a professional Quidditch player and Ed was training to become a translator. Jeremy and Lani (and her husband, Lucas) had come to stay with their parents especially to meet Lily, as James had spent a lot of time talking about her (after Sirius 'accidentally' told everyone about her) and that made Lily feel even more nervous. What if she didn't live up to their expectations?

James grinned at her and lightly kissed the tip of her nose.

"They're not _that _bad, you know. They'll probably absolutely love you and ask why you're going out with someone like me."

Lily laughed. "I ask myself the same thing sometimes." Looking at James' bewildered face, Lily laughed even harder and felt herself relax a bit.

"Haha. Very funny. You should fit right in – they're all mean to me!"

"Drama queen." Lily replied, poking her tongue out.

"And if not," James smiled, "you've got me."

Lily and James walked up to the front door, hand in hand.

* * *

A few hours later, Lily's nerves had vanished altogether. Sure enough, Jeremy and Ed had teased her about finally going out with James, but Lily had given as good as she got. They even asked her how much James had paid her to go out with him – Lily just laughed and turned to James and they proceeded to engage in some tonsil tennis ('I guess he must be paying her a lot'). 

James' parents were groovy – his dad had the same mischievous glint in his eyes that James often had and discussed pranks with James at length. His mum was short compared to the rest of the family and had James' hazel eyes. She was caring, but cunning – she seemed to know everything, especially how to win any argument with her husband or her children.

The last member of the family was a large ginger cat, who resembled a small lion or tiger. Simba was a very soppy cat who loved attention and was constantly rubbing against people's legs. He also sometimes meowed until someone picked him up and gave him a hug.

* * *

Lily stayed in a spare bedroom near James'. It was easy to get lost in the house and Lily kept discovering muggle items – she found a television and decided to make James watch a film that was on that night. 

Unfortunately, the film didn't really interest James and he soon flopped back on the bed that he and Lily were sitting on and sighed, staring at the ceiling. He and Lily had feasted on popcorn and cherry cola bottles, but they had all been devoured and James was thinking about whether to get some more when he felt a soft thump on his stomach.

Sitting upright, James saw that the culprit was a mischievous Lily caught red handed with a pillow.

"Right…" Grabbing one of his pillows, James turned to Lily, who scrambled as far away as she could and chucked one of her pillows at his head.

"This means war!"

James lunged at Lily, pillow in hand. Lily squealed, ducking the blow and hitting James again.

"Ha!" Lily poked her tongue out, then screamed as James took advantage and hit her.

Chaos ensued as the war continued. The pillows burst, sending feathers everywhere, which Simba curiously inspected and then tried to eat.

"Okay, okay." Lily uttered though her laughter. "I give up."

James was lying on top of her. "So, I've officially won?" He asked.

"No."

James tickled Lily's sides and she couldn't help giggling.

"You sure?"

"**No**." Lily reaffirmed and pushed him off of her to reverse their position.

"Now who's won?" She asked and began to tickle James, who desperately tried to keep the smile off his face.

"You have, my love." He said.

"Softy." Lily replied, rolling off of him.

They lay still for a while, catching their breath and losing it again when they caught sight of Simba, who had bits of the white feathers stuck to his long fur.

"Next week is going to be brilliant." James stated.

"Indeed, it is." Lily replied and shifted towards James to give him a hug.

* * *

_Please review - I'm not sure about this chapter and I'd like to know what people think! Also, information on Berlin would probably be helpful. :0)_

_Tanya_


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